We may not have had snow during the winter, but our beautiful Viburnum opulus Roseum makes up for it. I understand why it’s also called snowball and Whitsuntide boss, but why red snowball tree and rose elder?
Nous n’avons pas eu de neige cet hiver mais notre beau viorne ou Viburnum opulus Roseum est une petite compensation. Egalement connu sous le nom de boule de neige.
3 replies on “Spring Snowball – Boule de neige du printemps”
We get them here as well, in a few weeks. I remember we had a bush with them on the property when I was growing up. I imagine it might still be there…
It’s also called Guelder Rose in English. The red reference must be to its berries. I can kind of see the resemblence to elder ie they both have white flowers. People often don’t have much imagination when it comes to vernacular names for plants. The scientific name comes from the Roman name for wayfaring tree and the words for braid. Opulus is a Latin word for maple, so it is something like the maple like braided wayfaring tree. Don’t ask me, I’m just a field taxonomist…
It is quite spectacular !