Viburnum macrocephalum (Chinese snowball viburnum)

Japanese name: ビブルヌム マクロケファルム
Scientific name: Viburnum macrocephalum

[Overview]
A deciduous or semi-evergreen shrub up to 4 m tall.
It has a rounded form.
Young branches are densely covered with grayish white to yellowish white soft stellate hairs.
The leaves are simple and opposite, elliptic to ovate, 5–11 cm long and 2–5 cm wide, dark green, with fine serrations on the margin.
The upper surface is at first densely covered with soft stellate hairs but later becomes hairless except on the midrib, and the underside has soft stellate hairs.
Compound umbels, spherical and 8–15 cm across, appear at the branch tips, densely covered with grayish white to yellowish white soft stellate hairs.
In cultivated plants, the flowers are all sterile ornamental flowers; these are 1.5–4 cm across, with a 5-lobed corolla whose lobes are ovate-round with rounded tips, lime green at first and later white.
Fertile wild plants have many small bisexual flowers in the center of the inflorescence, surrounded by 8–18 ornamental flowers.
Fertile wild plants set fruit, which is oblong, red at first and later ripening to black.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings.
It grows well in any soil, as long as the site is sunny or in partial shade, well drained and rich in humus.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless sunny weather continues in summer and the soil becomes severely dry.
Apply fertilizer in winter, and also apply a slow-release chemical fertilizer with equal parts of the three components after flowering as a thank-you fertilizer.
It is not pruned, so that its natural form can be enjoyed; if you want to keep it compact, cut a little above a bud as soon as possible after flowering.
Poor ventilation makes powdery mildew and scale insects likely to occur, so take care.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)