Viburnum plicatum mariesii Shasta

Viburnum plicatum 'Shasta' is a variety of Chinese snowball bush with a low and particularly spreading habit, much wider than it is tall, remarkably layered. It is unique during flowering: its clusters of large white flowers open in mass and in double rows along the branches, as if the shrub was weighed down with snow in the middle of June. The deciduous and glossy foliage takes on beautiful purple colours in autumn. This snowball bush, with its hydrangea-like appearance, outshines them with its early flowering and prefers sunny exposures. It will thrive in a perfectly moist and low-limestone soil.

The Chinese snowball bush is a deciduous shrub in the Adoxaceae family (formerly classified in the Caprifoliaceae family), native to China and Japan. 'Shasta' is an old horticultural creation introduced in 1979 by the American National Arboretum. This variety stands out from the type with its very pronounced and layered wide habit, and its less important development. With its horizontal branches, the plant has a structured and light silhouette that remains attractive all year round, even in winter. It will reach a height of about 1.5m (4ft 11in) with a spread of 2.5m (8ft 2in), with a rather slow growth. Flowering occurs in May and continues until June. The inflorescences, wide flat cymes of 15cm (5.9in), develop in large numbers and in two rows on the top of the branches. They are composed of a peripheral crown of large well-developed sterile flowers with elliptical white petals, surrounding small fertile flowers in the form of beige buds and then white-green. The pollinated fertile flowers turn into small red berries and then black at maturity, gathered in generous clusters. The leaves, deciduous, measure 5 to 8cm (2 to 3.1in) long, are ovate in shape, tapering, strongly veined, with regularly dentate edges. They somewhat resemble hazel leaves. Their fairly dark green colour is satin on the upper side, with the underside being more pubescent. The foliage takes on sumptuous colours in autumn, from yellow to dark burgundy red to violet. 

This particularly ornamental shrub deserves a prominent place in a small garden or in the centre of a mixed border that highlights summer and autumn flowering, beautiful fruiting, and graphic foliage so as not to compete with its beauty. It can even be appreciated in winter, thanks to its regularly layered and beautifully stylized branches, with a slightly Japanese appearance. Plant this 'Shasta' Viburnum with other flowering shrubs, such as a sacred bamboo, a 'Black Lace' elderberry, a Clerodendrum trichotomum, a Fothergilla, a Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea' whose purple foliage will enhance its pinkish inflorescences and red fruits. It can also be combined with compact Photinias, Elaeagnus, camellias, Pieris, or hydrangeas in non-limestone soil, the choice is vast. It also deserves to be placed in isolation in a small garden or in the centre of a bed of low perennials and grasses, thanks to its beautiful presence in winter.