Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum

In other words: Japanese snowball bush tree. It's not so crazy to think about snowball trees in June this year, when it actually did snow in May. A farmer at the Sunday Market told me last weekend that he's lost a full growing season -- four or five weeks -- because of the cool weather and lack of sunshine this year. "You never get it back," he said. And, "That's farming!"

This is the very first tree that was planted in the Gaza Strip, on the far end from "Stellar Pink." My old gardening buddy John gave it to me; he dug up a chunk from his own massive specimen and brought it over in his pickup. Ten years ago I could easily put my arms around her and she wasn't much taller than I am. Now she's about 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall. She won't get much taller but I am her personal gastric bypass surgeon: me, my shovel & my loppers will keep her from getting wider.

My friend Lisa, who lives across the river on the Peninsula, said her snowball wasn't doing so well. I wonder if it's because the water table is so high over there and it got a bit overly damp this year. Like maybe a 100 inches damp.

Snowballs can look a little scruffy after they bloom, just a big ol' hulk of a shrub tree; and they're deciduous so they're a mass of empty branches for the winter. Not something you'd want in your front yard or as a privacy screen. (You're not going to mention how I managed to plant the entire Gaza Strip with DECIDUOUS trees, are you? So that in winter there's not much more between me and my neighbors than between Brooke Shields and her Calvin Kleins?)

I tried a couple times to grow a clematis through the Snowball. I'm pretty sure the first one died from thirst; the second one must have gotten lost in the crowd -- of roots or branches.

I hope you can find a good size for a cheap price, or you have a good neighbor-friend to give you a chunk. The blooming season is at least a month long and you can see the blooms go gangbusters. The blooms start out a very pale chartreuse and become pure, pure -- yep, snow white.

Then they just disappear. At least I think they do. At least I don't remember having a tree full of ugly brown balls. Just that one fact recommends Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum.