Probably so. Are the leaves arranged in pairs that are opposite one another? Viburnums have opposite leaves.

There are several types of viburnum commonly referred to as a "snowball" bush: American snowball, Viburnum opulus 'Roseum'; Japanese snowball, Viburnum plicatum 'Sterile'; and Chinese snowball, Viburnum macrocephalum. Your mom's is probably one of the Asian species - V. opulus has lobed leaves. And as esh notes, the leaves on all will be paired and opposite.

FWIW, mophead hydrangeas are also sometimes referred to as 'snowball bush' as well. And the leaf shape will be somewhat similar to what you describe, except of larger size. But if the shrub is blooming now, most likely a viburnum :-)

It's not blooming yet, but the leaves are oposite, and will get about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long maybe an inch and a 1/2 wide. They kinda look like some of the Hydrangea leaves at Lowes, but this is in full sun and has never looked like a hydrangea in bloom, the blooms are about the size of traditional glass Christmas tree globe glass balls. And are white. Blooms may be bigger after a rejuvination pruning though. If it blooms later, like in summer is it not possible to be a Viburnum? Thanks all who've replied, especially esh who has helped me quite a bit on other plant forums.

It will depend a bit on location/climate and weather, but for the most part the viburnums listed above tend to be mid to late spring bloomers. There is a variety of V. plicatum that blooms sporadically thoroughout summer but it does not have rounded, sterile, snowball-like flowers.

If the flowers appear well into summer - like July - it is much more likely to be a hydrangea (they mostly have opposite leaves also) but most hydrangeas with snowball-like flowers will produce much larger flowerheads. And they are not always white :-)

The only way we will be able to determine for sure is if you can post photos of the shrub in bloom. And with a close-up of both flowers and foliage.

we too had a snowball bush.. about half the size of the one car garage ..

couldnt have bloomed to late... because i used to take large sprays of flowers into the nuns ... on school days ...

thanks for the memory ...

ken

Based on your descriptions, look up pictures of Viburnum macrocephalum, the chinese snowball. Compare the leaves in the pictures to your leaves.

That looks like it, the flowers and leaves are a match. I don't have a digital camera gardengal, it would be easier if I did, I'm sending plant parts to someone on another forum for help in IDing a maple. I'm glad someone is letting me do that. I'm confident by the web photos of V Macrocephalum and the common name used, that they arwe the same plant.Thanks again esh!

My mother has what we'd always been told was a snowball bush, but rather than being named for the blossoms it was called that because the berries basically looked like little snowballs. It apparently isn't happy where it is planted because it hasn't done much of anything and was always very straggly; the fact that my overly "helpful" cousin mowed it during one of his rabid mowing frenzies hasn't helped it a great deal, but it's valiantly sending up a few inches of new growth and I've scouted a new location and invested in fencing and posts to keep the zero-turn-radius mower from hell at bay...

I don't recall what the blooms looked like, but the leaves are roundish (dontcha love the gardening techspeak?) and as I said before, the berries looked like fleshy white blueberries...from the pics I've seen of what everyone ELSE says is a snowball bush, they're not the same at all. Any ideas on what it might be? A little poking about online has me thinking maybe snowBERRY bush....??? And if it IS a snowberry could someone point me toward tips to help it flourish? Would settle for being directed to the appropriate forum; can take pics of what's left of it if there's a way to post pics to the site.

during one of his rabid mowing frenzies ===>>> can we see this on u tube???? .. lol ...

start your own post... so replies will come to you ..

refer to the link for posting pix ...

you are in the right forum ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link