Japanese snowball trees flower heavily in spring. The pure white clusters appear in April and May, some reaching 4 inches (10 cm.) wide. The clusters include both showy, 5-petaled infertile flowers and small fertile flowers. Butterflies enjoy visiting snowball trees’ flowers.

The rounded, green leaves of Japanese snowballs trees are attractive, and create dense foliage in summer. They turn yellow, red or purple in fall, then drop, revealing the shrub’s interesting branching structure in winter.

plant hardiness zones 5 through 8, where they are extremely easy to grow. Plant them in part shade or full sun.

These plants are drought tolerant once established. However, early Japanese snowball care includes generous irrigation for the first growing season. Gardeners are happy to hear that Japanese snowball trees have no serious insect pests, and are not subject to any serious diseases.