Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum (snowball)

[ForrestW]

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

 

[ForrestW]

In may of 2022 our club the blue ridge bonsai society did demonstrations at the NC arboretum for World Bonsai Day. I did my demo on bringing this one back.
The first photo is before, the second just me for scale and then the third is after the program, and the fourth in in August after it had time to back bud some.

 

[ForrestW]

I was much happier with the direction now and was trying to decide on a pot to step it down into for 2023. As its a very rounded tree I made a round pot with a varied blue green glaze that was shallower but not a huge step from the previous pot. Sadly I lost a few branches over the winter-- I think due to the major cold front dropping -10 for 5 days because in the previous 15 years I never lost a branch (although it was always in big pots as well). I repotted it in the spring as was able to move some branches around to fill in the gap "decently".

The first photo is from the spring in the new pot

In June our club, along with the NC Arboretum, and the Blue Spiral Art Gallery did an exhibition called Bonsai as Fine Art. (Bjorn was one of the professionals in the show) This is how the tree looked by the show-- the second angle is just to show how cool it was to have the work paired with some really nice paintings in the background.

 

[ForrestW]

This last photo is from the amazing Joe Noga, and was from my display at the Winter Silhouette Show in Kannapolis.

It is a stronger tree in leaf in silhouette and the beautiful soft (almost fuzzy leaf) that is my favorite characteristic to the tree but I am happy with the direction it is taking. I plan to pull down the bottom right and bottom left branches on the outer parts a little in the spring. and a few others, but I hope to keep about the same size to it next year, just get some more back budding to get a little more ramification.

I am also pondering making a new pot. I really like this color, but Bill Valavanis mentioned it looked a little deep still. In my observation it keeps a nice fiberous root system and it would not be hard, but it does really seem to drink a lot. I am leaning towards a deep oval only slightly wider and about 1/2-3/4" shallower.

Well That is where it is at. If you have experience with this plant or thoughts/advice please feel free to share. I hope to update in the spring -- and see it in flower in April (I cut off the flowers this year so that it could put more energy into filling in the gap from the lost branches.

 

[The Barber]

Maaaaan, I love that tree.

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Hi, you have a really nice tree here, I likes lots. But you have the variety of Viburnum wrong. This might be it, if I have the leaf shape right.

The snowball-shaped flowers of Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum. (photo: Aleks Monk)

Viburnum opulus has an almost finger-like leaf.

Just correcting for your future reference.
Really nice tree and I would love to have this on my bench.
Charles

 

[ForrestW]

Maaaaan, I love that tree.

Thank you very much

 

[ForrestW]

Hi, you have a really nice tree here, I likes lots. But you have the variety of Viburnum wrong. This might be it, if I have the leaf shape right.

The snowball-shaped flowers of Viburnum plicatum f. plicatum. (photo: Aleks Monk)

Viburnum opulus has an almost finger-like leaf.

Just correcting for your future reference.
Really nice tree and I would love to have this on my bench.
Charles

I appreciate that-- I just looked up the viburnum snowball and Opulus is what came up-- the flower looked like a match as that is what popped up, and more far away views, but you are correct. I will see if I can update the title-- but if not will know this next time someone asks Thank you.

 

[The Barber]

Not to hijack your thread, but I almost bought a couple of vibernum the other day at the nursury, even took a photo of one with nice taper that i liked. I may need to go back and grab it...I was afraid the leaves may be a bit big for my taste. They had like 6 different kinds. Base of the trunk was close to soda can sized.

Do the leaves in Vibernum reduce easily?

 

[ForrestW]

I have really enjoyed this plant-- and if that price says 49.99 I would jump on it. The leaf does reduce some, but the leaf itself is one of the best features of the plant in my opinion. I have been doing partial defoliation over the last 7-8 years and always get a second flush of smaller leaves. I would not try and make it a shohin but as medium to semi large I think the positives outweigh the negative of a "larger" leaf.

Thanks for sharing--
And if anyone can help me to change the title of the thread to the correct type of viburnum snowball-- I can not find any "Edit" option. Not trying to hide my mistake-- but if the thread is around a while it would be nice if it was correct.

 

[RJG2]

And if anyone can help me to change the title of the thread to the correct type of viburnum snowball-- I can not find any "Edit" option. Not trying to hide my mistake-- but if the thread is around a while it would be nice if it was correct.

Tag @Bonsai Nut for these types of requests.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Tag @Bonsai Nut for these types of requests.

Title changed

 

[The Barber]

Not to hijack your thread, but I almost bought a couple of vibernum the other day at the nursury, even took a photo of one with nice taper that i liked. I may need to go back and grab it...I was afraid the leaves may be a bit big for my taste. They had like 6 different kinds. Base of the trunk was close to soda can sized.

Do the leaves in Vibernum reduce easily?
View attachment 521614

I'll definitely be buying several to play with, they have several different types. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[ForrestW]

I'll definitely be buying several to play with, they have several different types. Thanks for the inspiration.

I look forward to seeing them down the road

 

[ForrestW]

Title changed

Thanks

 

[The Barber]

I have really enjoyed this plant-- and if that price says 49.99 I would jump on it. The leaf does reduce some, but the leaf itself is one of the best features of the plant in my opinion. I have been doing partial defoliation over the last 7-8 years and always get a second flush of smaller leaves. I would not try and make it a shohin but as medium to semi large I think the positives outweigh the negative of a "larger" leaf.

Thanks for sharing--
And if anyone can help me to change the title of the thread to the correct type of viburnum snowball-- I can not find any "Edit" option. Not trying to hide my mistake-- but if the thread is around a while it would be nice if it was correct.

Well...the vibernum I showed you was gone, but they had a full restock a couple hundred to pick through....ended up with a bunch of others lol.

 

[Orion_metalhead]

Beautiful tree. Great to see a viburnum of this quality because I am also experimenting with the species. They root super easy from cuttings and air layers as well. I have a small three year old shohin plicatum v. mariesii. I also have a large 6" - 8" wide trunk collected this year that will get worked back in size next year.

I look forward to the progression. Please update us often when worked!

 

[ForrestW]

Just a spring update. I made a new pot for it this spring. I wanted to move it into a slightly shallower pot and an oval. Its only about 3/8" shallower but I am happy with that, and its about 1 1/2" wider and 1 1/2" narrower. I am getting excited for it to leaf out.

 

[Tums]

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.

 

[Asymetrix]

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?