Friday, June 17, 2016

Snowball and Shrub - longtime garden friends

 In the far corner of our garden are two very old (75 years or more) plants. They were here on the property when it was purchased in 1968. The tall bush is a Vibernum, or "snow ball bush". The white flowers are perfectly round and do remind us of snow balls. They are a bit lighter then snow balls so if you are aiming for someone they need to be just a couple feet away but they don't hurt like snow balls.
Next to that is this bush, Calycanthus floridus, a native plant that we are glad to have in our garden. At one time it was found in every yard so its nickname is simply "shrub". It has a sweet scent when in flower. Our mother told us when she was a schoolgirl she would put one of these in the corner of her handkerchief for its lovely fragrance. This very easy to maintain plant, flowers for only 2 weeks or so in the spring.
Snowball and Shrub in the springtime garden

1 comment:

Marilyn Miller said...

I am not sure I have seen that shrub before, but do love the snowball plant. My children did love snowball fights when we had a very large one in a previous yard.