Home › Contents › Guelder Rose

Guelder Rose

Viburnum opulus.

GUELDER ROSES are plentiful in Guelderland, which lies due east of Amsterdam, and extends from the Zuider Zee along the course of the Rhine to the junction of the Lippe. In the woods and gardens about Arnheim the trees are conspicuous in early summer by reason of their abundant "snowball" clusters of flowers; and in autumn the leaves and berries combine to augment the glow of colour that warns us of the coming winter, when the birds will consume the berries and the leaves will fall to the ground. In this country the Guelder rose is also a wilding, but rather scarce, whereas its near relation, the wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana), is quite common, more especially in Kent and Essex. It is often a fine decoration to the hedgerows when bearing an abundant crop of variously-coloured berries-some glowing scarlet, others as black as jet. The common Guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) or snowball tree, that is so familiar in our gardens, does not differ from the wild tree of the same name in any essential particular. It is, however, much handsomer, as the result of long cultivation, and probably the improved forms were introduced to our gardens from the district of Holland its familiar name commemorates. Gerarde describes it as known to the Dutch as "Gheldersche Roose," but he says nothing of the origin of the garden variety; and Dodoens, who describes it as "Marris (or marsh) Elder, Ople, or Dwarffe Plane Tree," throws no light upon the subject. It is of little consequence; but as names are often, like caskets, filled with information for such as can unlock them, we shall assume that in the case before us we have direct suggestion of the indebtedness of our gardens to the horticulture of the Low Countries.

The snowball tree makes a growth in many respects like the common hedge maple, and the leaves are similarly lobed. In the early summer the leafage is of a brilliant light green colour; and in May and June, when the flowers appear, often in prodigal profusion, the round white clusters show with striking effect, and serve as a beautiful link between the coming summer and the passing spring. Between the showy flowers of the garden tree and the less attractive flowers of the wild tree some differences are observable, and they are of the kind which may be seen in a peculiarly interesting manner in that beautiful hardy shrub, Hydrangea Japonica. In the centre of the clusters the flowers are small, and show stamens and pistils; but those on the circumference are large and sterile. The garden tree agrees in these particulars, but affords a less interesting study, owing to the crowded state of the clusters.

In every garden the Guelder rose should have a place, and it is particularly well adapted for the mixed shrubbery, as it does not suffer much if a little crowded. For a sheltered spot, or as a dwarf tree for a wall, we have Viburnum plicatum, with beautifully-plaited leaves of a fine dark green colour and handsome heads of white flowers. This is good enough for pot culture in a cool conservatory, where the climate is too cold for its well-doing in the open ground. Another and quite grand plant is the great-headed Chinese snowball (Viburnum macrocephalum), which comes near to our V. lantana in foliage, but bears immense heads of snow-white flowers. This also is worthy of pot culture in gardens that are too cold for it. A large-leaved species from Japan, V. macrophyllum, is worth attention, but is of less importance than the two named above.

A favourite tree on southern and western coasts is the evergreen laurestinus (Viburnum tinus), a tree of neat habit and beautiful appearance that puts forth an abundance of white flowers during the winter, its season ranging from November to April, as the climate of the district or the weather of the winter may influence it. This beauty is so much valued that it is often grown to a great size in tubs, being annually pruned or clipped to keep it to a round or elliptic form, to serve the same purposes in garden decoration as the sweet bays and orange-trees, also grown in tubs. In many parts of the country the laurestinus is useless as a garden tree, but then it is still one of the best of subjects for pot culture in the cool conservatory, and associates usefully with berried aucubas, skimmias, pyracanthas, and escallonias, all of which are easily managed as pot plants, and by some of the more spirited amateurs are grown in quantity to group with specimen chrysanthemums in November and December. In the northern suburbs of London the laucestinus scarcely prospers in the open ground; but in the western suburbs, and particularly along the valley of the Thames, it grows and flowers almost as freely as at Bournemouth. It is not many years since we saw by some houses at Strand-on-the-Green, near Kew, laurestinuses rising above the level of the roof. The viburnums are partial to a strong soil, and the common snowball tree will thrive in places that are too damp for many of the better kinds of flowering trees.