As is the case with most of the shrubs and perennials I’ve purchased over the years, I picked up Spirea ‘Snow Storm’ on a whim. It was in the clearance section of my local nursery and for $3.99, I couldn’t pass it up.
Spireas in general, are not the most exciting or unique shrubs and you see them everywhere here in New Jersey. But damn, they are always tough and reliable year after year and for whatever reason, the deer stay away from them. That’s enough for me to give them a proper home in my landscape.
I’m a sucker for white blooms so ‘Snowstorm’ was a no-brainer. I’ve seen the ‘Snowmound’ cultivar sold at almost all of the nurseries, but ‘Snowstorm’ was new to me. In the cart she went, no questions asked (or tags read).
I’ve had this deciduous shrub for about three years now and last spring/summer (May 23rd to June 15th to be exact, after consulting my plant spreadsheet) she put on a nice little show:
I really like the blue/green foliage on this spirea and while I’ve yet to see the true “snowstorm” of blooms, it fits nicely and casually into the landscape.
A few additional photos:
Blooms about to pop:
And then the pop:
Just coming into bloom:
Still looks good as the blooms fade:
A close-up of the faded blooms:
I have yet to deadhead any of the blooms so I cannot comment on the re-blooming capability of this shrub. I like the look of the faded blooms so for now, I’ll avoid removing any of the spent blooms.
Speaking of faded blooms (later into the summer/fall):
I will say, I’ve yet to see any of the promised orange fall color as I’ve seen in many other photos. Maybe it will just take time and I’m willing to wait. Here’s all I’ve seen in terms of fall color to date:
Some other nuggets of info:
- Mature size is about 4×4 so will work in most gardens large and small
- Survives zones 4-8
- Blooms on “new” wood so it can be pruned in late winter with the blooms not affected
- Prefers full sun/partial shade and that is exactly where I have it situated.
Anyone else have experience with this shrub? Tips?
John
Beautiful.. fine and cute flowers.
I’m more of a Bridal wreath fan due to it’s arching habit, but I could learn to love this one.
when I was a child the spirea in our yard was huge and the branches draped…it was beautiful when it bloomed…don’t remember anyone ever pruning it!
It is a wonderful new plant for me to see. I can see the snow clumps may be the idea to give it the name. It looks like it is doing well. Our zone just got changed so we are actually in a colder zone now 5a but that means I still could grow it here on the prairie.
How do you do a plant spreadsheet
Nice photos and post. Waiting for spring….only 43 days to go!
Thanks lot for this useful article, nice post
This has colored up in fall reliably here. I think it’s going to have a great habit if left un-sheared, so don’t treat it like a normal spirea. It has not re-bloomed as reliably as typical landscape spireas, most white flowered varieties don’t in my experience. I’m a spirea-hater, but this one is great. (As is S. betulifolia ‘Tor)
Beautiful blooms. I love how the buds have little star shapes before opening. It feels like spring here!
Love this easy-going shrub. I cut off the spent blooms so I can enjoy the rebloom. The second wave of flowers come on smaller heads. Fall color is very nice here in Central Illinois. If it gets misshapen are unwieldy, thin and/or prune it in the late winter for a fresh new look come spring.
I have a hedge of these that’s about 4 years old and 20′ long. Didn’t shear them last year and the blooms were not as plentiful, so will continue shearing them. Had one die out, but others filled in the spot. Also have some in back to be able to transplant to the front hedge if I need to. The brief period they are in bloom in either late May or Early June (Akron, OH) they are stunning!
I just bought a Snow Storm Spirea and I’ve read that they bloom on “old wood” and should be pruned only after flowering. If you prune before flowering you risk trimming off some of the developing blooms.
Here in northern Illinois the rabbits do a significant late winter hard prune on my snow storm spireas. All five of them bloom wonderfully each year.