Snowball Viburnum vs Early Blue Violet - TreeTime.ca

Snowball Viburnum vs Early Blue Violet

Viburnum opulus roseum

Viola adunca

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(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

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Snowball Viburnum
Early Blue Violet

Snowball Viburnum is a popular ornamental shrub with prolific flowering. This plant is prized for its round clusters of white flowers that resemble snowballs, delighting children and adults. In fall, its leaves turn vibrant shades of red.

Snowball Viburnum is sought after as a single accent shrub, but can also make a dense hedge or privacy screen.

Early Blue Violet is a low-growing native perennial wildflower valued for its striking early-spring blooms. The flowers range in color from vibrant blue to deep violet, often marked with pale highlights and fine white hairs. They provide an important early nectar source for pollinators and serve as a host plant for several fritillary butterfly species.

It spreads by both seed and rhizomes, gradually forming small colonies. Its dark green, heart-shaped leaves add ornamental appeal, and the plant shows some resistance to deer browsing. Early Blue Violet is well-suited to naturalization projects and pollinator-friendly gardens, and has also been used in coastal butterfly habitat restoration in the Pacific Northwest.

Snowball Viburnum Quick Facts

Early Blue Violet Quick Facts

Zone: 3b
Zone: 2a
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Height: 0.1 m (0.3 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Spread: 0.2 m (0.5 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: fast
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Growth form: low growing, clump-forming
Spreading: seeds - medium, rhizomes - medium
Suckering: low
Maintenance: medium


Toxicity: rhizomes, fruit, seed poisonous to humans
Fall colour: purplish-red
Bark: gold to gray
Flowers: white
Flowers: purple to blue-violet
Bloom time: mid spring to early summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, YT, NT
Other Names: european cranberrybush, guelder rose, snowball bush, snowball tree
Other Names: dog violet, hookedspur violet, sand violet, western blue violet