Showy Japanese Snowball Bush, the Doublefile Viburnum, is Southern Favorite

Doublefile viburnum is a spectacular flowering shrub that is native to Japan, but has deep running roots in the south, the region of the United States where it grows best. Long ago, southerner's gave the doublefile viburnum a nick name that stuck, we call this spring flowering shrub a Japanese Snowball Bush.

The doublefile viburnum puts on an outstanding spring floral display. Horizontal tiers of branches will be so laden with showy white blooms you can't see the green foliage. The white flowers fade by the end of May, revealing the dark green foliage all summer. By mid-summer, a multitude of bright red berries form on the Japanese Snowball Bush that will turn black in the fall, attracting a wide range of birds to the shrub. The Japanese Snowball Bush will put on another spectacular color show in the fall as the foliage turns from dark green, to deep reds and purples.

How To Plant A Japanese Snowball Bush, Doubefile Viburnum

This flowering shrub will grow large, up to 12 tall and 15 feet wide. You can prune a Japanese Snowball, but you still need to plant it where it will have plenty of room to grow upward and to spread out it's horizontal branches.

Choose a location for the doublefile viburnum that is sunny, but has a little shade from the hot afternoon sun and soil that does not dry out too quickly. This flowering shrub makes a great focal point for the center of a large landscape, or for the corner of a foundation landscape planting.

Dig a hole twice as deep and twice as wide as the root ball, add some compost or other organic matter to the bottom of the hole and plant. Water in well and mulch.

How To Care For A Japanese Snowball Bush, Doublefile Viburnum

A Japanese Snowball Bush is easy to care for and maintain. Feed with a water soluble fertilize or granulated fertilizer just prior to it blooming in the spring and keep the soil moist, prune after the flowers fall off in early summer.

A Japanese Snowball Bush has no serious pest problems and does well in the summer southern heat. Unfortunately, this flowering shrub does not grow well in the colder northern climates, nor in costal climates.

The Japanese Snowball Bush is a hardworking flowering shrub that is easy to grow and doesn't mind a little summer heat, that's why you see so many of them across the southern United States.