Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum (snowball)

[ForrestW]

Hi, could you tell me how many flushes of growth you get with your viburnum? If you do a mid season pruning, will it respond? I grew a viburnum trilobum (American high bush cranberry) in a pot for a bit and it just wanted to send out one huge leggy burst of long shoots in the spring. yours looks super nice and like it has manageable internodes.

Good morning, Thanks for the comments. I have never done a full defoliation but pretty much every year I do a partial. I begin with just removing the larger leaves early on, and then in May/early June I would usually see a second flush on parts of the tree extending and I would then take about 1/3 of the leaves off based on the overall design. This plant has been in a pot for probably 25 years and over the last 4-5 they were getting smaller and smaller, which has helped a little with internode distance. But, often when I get that second flush, if a spring internode was too long I cut it back to a back bud. Sometimes at the base of this year growth, other times just a little further back.

 

[ForrestW]

I love this tree, especially because you don't often see viburnum. I think you have done amazing because the internodes can definitely be long.

I'm currently working with a couple blackhaw viburnum. Viburnum Prunifolium.

As you pointed out the foliage of most viburnum species is incredibly decorative. With most having lovely flowers and fruit.

In your experience do you cutback in fall or before bud break?

Thanks, I agree- the foliage is the feature of this tree-- the growth is just going to be a bit wild and corse. I wire a little (as you can see) but it has a been an enjoyable species to work with. I do not tend to do much heavy fall pruning, primarily because I almost always do a late may early June cut back, and I do not get heavy branches from that second flush. I generally cut buds every spring to balance the growth and visual mass as I see them opening up, but not a lot of larger cuts in the early spring. The flowers on this one are nice, a bit large for its overall size, but the snowball clusters of flowers are smaller now then they were 5-7 years ago and are less snowball, and at time closer to golf ball. I usually get a second flower in late summer as well, now as prolific, but still a little treat.

 

[gooeytek]

whoa, that's a beautiful tree.

 

[Asymetrix]

Thanks, I agree- the foliage is the feature of this tree-- the growth is just going to be a bit wild and corse. I wire a little (as you can see) but it has a been an enjoyable species to work with. I do not tend to do much heavy fall pruning, primarily because I almost always do a late may early June cut back, and I do not get heavy branches from that second flush. I generally cut buds every spring to balance the growth and visual mass as I see them opening up, but not a lot of larger cuts in the early spring. The flowers on this one are nice, a bit large for its overall size, but the snowball clusters of flowers are smaller now then they were 5-7 years ago and are less snowball, and at time closer to golf ball. I usually get a second flower in late summer as well, now as prolific, but still a little treat.

Thanks for the response. I think I will try that this season.

 

[ForrestW]

End of season update-- So I showed the tree at Bonsai Central and am happy with the way it looked for the show in may. That is the first shot, then when I got home I decided it would not be shown again for a while and I did a good bit of wiring (second photo). The last photo is just how it looks now. I choose to let any second/third flush this summer just stay on for the health of the plant. I will prune it back and wire again in March, and may change the pot again. I like the proportions and color, but I want to make a more pronounced rim.

 

[ForrestW]

Just a spring update-- I repotted the tree much closer to the middle and chased the growth back a good bit. I plan to go back further than this, but I am hoping for more back budding this spring and will probably do a pretty hard pruning in Late May.

 

[Asymetrix]

Just a spring update-- I repotted the tree much closer to the middle and chased the growth back a good bit. I plan to go back further than this, but I am hoping for more back budding this spring and will probably do a pretty hard pruning in Late May.
View attachment 585518

Looking good, and a rare species to work with it seems. I just realized I've purchased pots from you! Off of Etsy. I really love your crackle pots I hope you make more. Also love the rivets.

 

[baldone]

Never seen these in Bonsai, very nice.
In my yard

 

[ForrestW]

Looking good, and a rare species to work with it seems. I just realized I've purchased pots from you! Off of Etsy. I really love your crackle pots I hope you make more. Also love the rivets.

Thanks-- it is a fun tree to play with. I am glad you like my pots, I have been really enjoying rivets lately.

Never seen these in Bonsai, very nice.
In my yard
View attachment 585620

Thanks-- yes they do flower a lot. I have found that that clusters are getting smaller and smaller over the years. Still a bit out of proportion as a whole but improving with time in container culture. It will never have a fantastic winter view, but I am most drawn to the leaves as its best feature.

 

[rdb00]

I am still very new on this site but have been enjoying watching some of the progressions of trees people have shared. I hope to continue to update this thread as my tree hopefully continues to refine but I am going to do a little 3 year recap since I was not on here years ago.

First, I got this tree in probably 2005-2008 from a neighbor who is a landscaper. He had a seedling flat of them that he planted in probably 1995-2000. (sorry the years are a blur) but he had many in his yard, but kept one in a large flower pot to put next to his pond. I expressed an interest in it and traded him a bonsai of mine for it. I hope to dig up on an old drive some early photos of it but essentially I did not do a whole lot with it for a good 10 years. I moved it from a deep flower pot into a wider shallower pot, and then after about 3-4 years in about 2012 I moved it into a large Mica pot to thicken it up more. My children were born in 2005 and 2008 and by about 2010 my bonsai were mainly on the sprinkler system, a spring pruning, a summer pruning and that's about it until about 2018.

The photos start in 2020 in a large Mica pot (maybe 18"). It also shows the size of the flowers.

The second photo is a year later in 2021 where I stepped it down into a ceramic pot that is about the same depth, but not as wide (and in flower)

The third photo is fall of 2021. Generally they hit fall earlier than most of my plants and have a decent fall color show-- not spectacular, but decent.

The fourth photo is in the spring of when flowering in April. The tree has been over grown in ALL of these images and it was time to bring it back in my opinion

Hey great post! This was really informative for me as I picked up a viburnum locally with amazing potential for like $50!!!

I had a question if you don’t mind… what is your experience working with the roots? The trunk on mine is about 3/4” diameter and I would love to put it in the ground for a few years to grow it out more.

What time of year did you perform root work?

 

[baldone]

Love it

 

[ForrestW]

Hey great post! This was really informative for me as I picked up a viburnum locally with amazing potential for like $50!!!

I had a question if you don’t mind… what is your experience working with the roots? The trunk on mine is about 3/4” diameter and I would love to put it in the ground for a few years to grow it out more.

What time of year did you perform root work?

It has been a fun tree to work with. For me the roots have been easy to work with in the sense that they are mostly fibrous and reducing the depth over the years has gone smoothly. I generally repot in the spring about every other year as the buds are swelling-- there have been some years I have repotted yearly, mainly for the sake of changing the pot, but I have also gone 3-4 years between repots and have not had a problem. Good luck, I would love to see how your progresses. -- Rob

Love it

Thanks