Viburnum opulus Park Harvest

Viburnum opulus Park Harvest is a variety of Snowball Tree that will seduce you with the beauty of its colour-changing foliage. Its leaves, golden-yellow with copper margins in spring, turn slightly greener in summer and become wine-red in autumn. Its white spring flowering harmonises perfectly with its golden foliage, while its shiny red fruits contribute to the autumn colour display. It is a very hardy and easy-to-grow shrub in any soil that is not too dry. With a beautiful stature, maintaining its appeal for 9 months out of 12 and sought after by birds, it can be placed in a shrubbery or in a free hedge.

The Guelder Rose, sometimes called European Cranberry Bush or Snowball Tree depending on the region, is a deciduous shrub native to Europe and North Africa. It belongs to the Caprifoliaceae family along with honeysuckle, for example. It shares with it a preference for damp woodland soils, venturing into marshes at an altitude below 1600 m (5250 ft). The 'Park Harvest' cultivar stands out for its remarkably colourful spring foliage. This bushy shrub will reach an average height of 2.75 m (9 ft) with a spread of 1.5 m (5 ft). Its branches readily layer on contact with the ground, further enhancing its bushy habit. Its wrinkled, rough foliage is initially yellow with a brick-red margin, then becomes greener in summer, and finally turns purplish-violet in autumn. The leaf is divided into 3 to 5 acute lobes with dentate margins. It blooms in May-June, in the form of flattened corymbs measuring 6 to 8 cm (2 to 3 in) in diameter; they are compound, just like in hydrangeas, with a crown of larger sterile florets surrounding a central disc of fertile florets in the shape of buds. This fragrant flowering is very attractive to bees and provides nectar. The fruiting is abundant and decorative, in the form of round berries, 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter, of a bright red colour, much appreciated by birds.

Viburnum opulus Park Harvest is a completely hardy and low-maintenance plant. It thrives in sunny or semi-shaded positions and flourishes in any ordinary soil that is rather moist, even limestone and clay. It can be used as a focal point in small gardens, in hedges or in flower beds in larger gardens. In a hedge, it can be combined with a variety of shrubs chosen for their autumn foliage (European spindle, winged euonymus, smoke bush, oakleaf hydrangea, Physocarpus), their spring flowering (mock oranges, deutzias, lilacs, Canadian serviceberry), or for their attractive fruits (chokeberries, beautyberries, snowberries, Chinese quince, etc.). Its graceful inflorescences can be included in your spring bouquets.