Synonym: 'Fujisanensis'
The lacy look of this Doublefile Viburnum in bloom will become a very familiar sight in your sunny to lightly shaded garden, for it reblooms from late spring all the way through summer and into fall! A very low maintenance shrub bred for compact size, heavy flowering, and abundant fruiting, it also offers handsome fall foliage changes and a slender, well-branched silhouette. One can ask for nothing more from any shrub!
'Summer Snowflake' begins its show with large, pointed 5-inch foliage of bright green, nicely veined for a pleated look. The first show of blooms follow, usually appearing shortly after the dogwoods pass in late spring. Each cluster of blooms consists of two rows of white blooms -- the "double file" effect that led to its common name. The umbels reach up to 4 inches across, and are very, very profuse on this well-branched, dense shrub. After the first flush of flowers, 'Summer Snowflake' can be relied upon to rebloom every 3 to 4 weeks until well into fall.
Berries follow the blooms, turning in late summer from orange-red to black and absolutely delighting the backyard birds. If you are a birder, you simply must place this shrub within easy range of the binoculars and a large window; it will not disappoint you!
Far and away the most spectacular show of this multi-season shrub is in early fall, when flowers, berries, and autumn foliage are all present at once. The leaves turn deep red to bronzy purple, remaining on the shrub for several weeks before dropping for winter. The sight of them among fresh blooms and red to black berries is simply amazing!
'Summer Snowflake' was introduced by the British Columbia Botanical Garden, and forms a dense, multi-stemmed, horizontally branched shrub about 6 to 10 feet high and 4 to 8 feet wide at maturity. It was bred for compact size, but it may exceed the given measurements under ideal conditions, and it's certainly hard to complain about having more of this delightful presence! It benefits from a pruning after the flowers pass, but other than that is very low maintenance, and exhibits good drought tolerance once established in your landscape. It will flower and fruit best if planted in groups of at least two, but even a specimen will put on an impressive show. Winner of a 2004 Arkansas Select Choice, this shrub is already a classic, and simply improves with age. We are proud to recommend it to Wayside gardeners. Zones 5-8.
