‘Snow’ plants for all seasons

Do you want to build a snowman? Or would you prefer to read a gardening article about a bunch of plants with the word “snow” in the name? Great, you’ve come to the right place. With our recent wintry weather, I’m sure gardening isn’t on the forefront of most of your minds, but since snow is, I figured why not combine the two!

There is no shortage of cultivars of winter-blooming plants like Hellebore and Camellia that have snow in their name. Hellebores typically bloom from January through March, with flowers sometimes poking up through the snow, and if you browse catalogs and plant databases, you can quickly find ‘Cinnamon Love,’ a cultivar with cinnamon-burgundy flower stalks topped with pure white flowers that develop a tinge of pink as they age. There’s also ‘Snow Love’ – white flowers that age to green, and ‘Mahogany Rose’- white blooms with rose and mahogany tones. Camellias have an entire group of cold-tolerant hybrids often referred to as the Winter group, dozens of which feature the word winter in their name. Many of these camellias also feature snow, such as ‘Snow Flurry’ and ‘Winter Snowman.’ Both of these have white flowers, as you might have guessed.

Top left: ‘Snow Love’ Hellebores have white flowers that age to green, and bloom from January through March. Top right: 'Snow Flurry' Camellia is a cold-tolerant camellia with white blooms.  Middle left: 'Snow Queen' Oak-

leaf Hydrangeas have clusters of white, cone-shaped flowers from May-June. Middle right: Viburnum plicatum, 'Summer Snowflake,' derives its name from the lacecap flower heads that make the plant appear as though it's covered with a light dusting of snow when in bloom. Bottom left: 'Snow Carpet' is a miniature hybrid shrub rose that grows up to 10 inches tall and spreads up to four feet across. Photo: S. Zona, CC BY-NC 2.0

It's not solely winter-blooming plants that borrow the word snow, however. There’s an Oakleaf hydrangea cultivar named ‘Snow Queen’ that that has gorgeous white, cone-shaped flower clusters from May-June. Mophead hydrangeas, at least the white-blooming ones, are sometimes called snowball plant or snowball bush, because the round shape of the bloom resembles a snowball. Several types of viburnum, from Viburnum obovatum, to Viburnum opulus, to Viburnum plicatum, are also often called snowball bush for the same reason. A cultivar of Viburnum plicatum, ‘Summer Snowflake, derives its name from the lacecap flower heads with both sterile and fertile flowers that make the plant appear as though it’s been covered with a light dusting of snow when in bloom.

There’s more!  The Styrax and Halesia genus, which I’ve written about before, both feature several species of trees often referred to as snowbells because of their white, bell-shaped flowers. There’s a white weeping Japanese cherry known as ‘Snow Fountain.’ Serissa japonica, a summer-blooming evergreen shrub, is often referred to as the snow rose, due to its smattering of white blossoms atop glossy foliage. Not to be outdone, there are several true rose cultivars that have snow in the name, including ‘Snow Carpet,’ ‘Snow on the Heather,’ ‘Summer Snow,’ and ‘Snow Queen.’
Fear not, gardeners, the snow will be gone from the ground soon. It may already be as you read this, in fact. Yet, reminders of our winter weather may be in many of our gardens all-year round.

Matthew Stevens is the horticulture extension agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have any questions about this article or other aspects of your home gardening, please contact the Pitt County Master Gardener Infoline at 252-902-1705.