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The snowball tree produced rounded clusters of white sterile flowers in early summer, but as the flowers are expanding, they go through a wonderful lime green phase
which is quite delightful in dappled shade. An accidental but welcome arrival in the garden, it was given to me by a neighbour who was being 'landscaped'. Eventually I dug it out when I removed a partition hedge that was obstructing the space. Trees and Shrubs online says that this is the correct name for the plant I have always known as 'Sterile' (which was a silly name) and adds: "In this form all the flowers are of the sterile kind, and the cyme in consequence becomes transferred into a globose head of white, closely packed blossoms, 2 to 2 1/2 in. across. This is one of the most beautiful of hardy shrubs, but of course the fruiting beauty of the common Guelder rose is sacrificed. ‘Roseum’ has been known in European gardens since the 16th century and was usually called ‘Sambucus rosea’ or Rose Elder, probably from a fancied resemblance of the florets to single roses. The name ‘Guelder Rose’, now used for the species as a whole, originally belonged exclusively to this double form and suggests that it originated in the region of the Netherlands known as Gelderland. Miller called the wild form ‘Marsh Elder’ or ‘Guelder Rose with flat flowers’." |
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| 1st June 1999 | ||
