White Out

Breaking News!!! Snow on Bush! No, not Tony Snow. Not Gee Dubya Bush. That kind of snow job blooms all year round. I'm talking about snowball bush-- Viburnum opulus (Sterile).

With the exception of the last few days (as evidenced by my sunburned shoulders) it has been a cool and grey spring. So snow was late this year.

Monrovia Nursery once again has great information about this lovely spring bloomer whose flower heads are garden show stoppers during their all too brief once a year spring bloom.

An unusual May rain storm is moving through today making the snowballs heavy and droopy. Soon they will begin dropping their flowerettes leaving a snowy carpet underfoot. An extra added attraction: in autumn the leaves turn red providing some seasonal color to an otherwise mostly green southern California fall.

Because this bush is deciduous, I underplant it with some low growing winter blooming flowers such as cineraria. The bare branches also support nasturtiums which have freely reseeded throughout the garden.