Chinese Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) large white spherical flower head. Photo: Neux-Neux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Chinese Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) large white spherical flower head. Photo: Neux-Neux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Bushes & Accent Shrubs

Chinese Snowball Viburnum - Live Shrub

Zones 6a–9bLive Plant
$12.00
$12.00
(-0%)

Flower heads the size of a softball, hundreds of them, every April.
Chinese Snowball Viburnum - Live Shrub

Quantity
Chinese Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) large white spherical flower head. Photo: Neux-Neux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Bushes & Accent Shrubs

Chinese Snowball Viburnum - Live Shrub

$12.00
Chinese Snowball Viburnum (Viburnum macrocephalum) large white spherical flower head. Photo: Neux-Neux, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Bushes & Accent Shrubs

Chinese Snowball Viburnum - Live Shrub

$12.00
Description

Viburnum macrocephalum is the one people stop the car for. In early spring it covers itself in 6-8 inch globes that open lime-green and age to pure white, held on arching branches that can reach 15 feet. It is not fragrant and it sets no fruit - the showy florets are sterile - so it is grown purely for the three weeks a year when nothing else in an Alabama yard comes close, and for the broad, clean habit it keeps the rest of the season. Give it room; this is a specimen, not a foundation plant. Offered in 1-Gallon Pot and 3-Gallon Pot, shipped well-rooted from our Lineville, Alabama nursery.

Specifications
  • Mature size: 12-20 ft tall and nearly as wide
  • Grows best: Outdoors - Hardiness USDA 6-9
  • Pet safety: Not known to be toxic to cats and dogs
  • Sourcing: Nursery-grown by Wade Greens; ships healthy from our Lineville, Alabama nursery to the lower 48 states.
Care Instructions
  • Light: Full sun to part sun; afternoon shade is fine in the Deep South
  • Water: Weekly through the first two summers, then as needed
  • Soil: Well-draining, slightly acidic
  • Feeding: Feed in spring, after flowering
Growing Zone

Hardy in zones 6a–9b. Outside that range it can still be grown in a container and overwintered indoors.

Full colour is zones 6a–9b, where this plant is hardy in the ground. Lower 48 shown — that's where we ship. 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, via the PRISM Climate Group.

Questions & Answers

How big does it get?
12-20 ft tall and nearly as wide. Prune right after it flowers if you need to hold its size.

How much light does it need?
Full sun to part sun. More sun means more flower heads.

Is it safe for pets?
Not known to be toxic to cats and dogs.

How is it shipped?
Packed to arrive healthy and shipped from our Alabama nursery to the lower 48 states.

Shipping & Returns

Ships to all 48 contiguous states from our farm in Lineville, Alabama.

What it costs

Based on your order total: $12.95 under $35 · $16.95 to $75 · $21.95 to $125 · free over $125.

Ship days

Mondays and Tuesdays only — see below.

Getting it ready

1–3 business days to pot up, water back and pack.

Where we can't go

Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, P.O. boxes, and outside the United States.

Why we only ship Mondays and Tuesdays

A plant in a dark box is on a clock. Shipping early in the week means it reaches you before the weekend instead of sitting in a warehouse from Friday to Monday. It costs us a day or two of lead time and saves a lot of plants.

Practically: an order placed Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or over the weekend goes out the following Monday. We'd rather tell you that now than let you find it in a tracking number.

How long it takes once it leaves

Typical ground transit from Lineville, Alabama after the ship day. Estimates, not guarantees — weather and carrier backlogs happen.

  • 1–2 days Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky
  • 2–3 days The rest of the Southeast and Midwest, Texas, the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast
  • 3–5 days The Plains, the Mountain West and the West Coast

Tracking is emailed the moment your box is scanned.

If something arrives unhappy

A little leaf drop or travel stress is normal and usually sorts itself out within a week or two of settling in. If a plant arrives genuinely damaged, email support@wadegreens.com within 48 hours of delivery with a photo of the plant and the box, and we'll make it right.

Plant Traits

The facts that decide whether it takes root, in the order that matters.

Sunlight

Full Sun (6+ hrs) · Partial Sun (4-6 hrs)

Six or more hours of direct sun. With less it stretches toward the light and flowering thins out.

Water

Moderate

Water when the top inch of soil is dry. Evenly damp, never standing wet.

Mature Size

12-20 ft

Where it settles once established. Plan the spacing for this, not for the size it arrives at.

Foliage

Deciduous

Drops its leaves in fall and leafs back out in spring. Bare in winter is dormant, not dead.

Works As

Accent & Specimen · Hedge & Privacy Screen · Border & Bed

Traits

  • Fast GrowingFills its space in a season or two. Fast growth is soft growth, so expect a shorter life and more give in a storm.
  • Deer ResistantDeer feed by scent first. Aromatic oils, fuzzy leaves and milky sap all read as "not food," so this gets browsed last — though a hungry herd in late winter will test anything.
  • Low MaintenanceNo routine pruning, staking, deadheading or feeding to stay presentable. Not the same as no water in the first season.

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