Laurel-leaved Evergreen Viburnum – cut and care

The plant, which comes from the Mediterranean region, prefers a bright location. Light penumbra with a few hours of sunshine in the morning or afternoon is ideal. The laurel snowball needs more care in full sun. The plant copes with direct sunlight. The problem is that the substrate dries faster here. Dark and shady planting locations should be avoided. The evergreen plants are sensitive to the cold and should therefore only be cultivated in pots. The advantage: A wrong choice of location can be corrected quickly by moving the planter. In mild regions, the Mediterranean snowball can be planted in the garden all year round. Here the plant can develop undisturbed. A height of over 3 m is by no means unusual.

There are no special requirements for the substrate. The laurel snowball can handle almost any type of soil. The only exception: waterlogging must not form, the substrate should have a slight basic moisture. The following properties in relation to the ground have proven themselves:

• Locker
• Permeable
• Rich in humus

You can loosen loamy, heavy substrate permanently with sand or small pebbles. For potted plants, you should use conventional potting soil. Here, a drainage system ensures that excess water from watering or rain is quickly drained away from the plant roots.

Watering and fertilizing

Bay-leaved viburnum is an evergreen shrub that is sensitive to a dry root ball. For this reason, the exotic plant must be supplied with water all year round. This is particularly important in the cold season. Check the moisture content of the soil regularly in winter.

• Pour lukewarm water on frost-free days.
• In summer only water in the morning or afternoon.
• Avoid waterlogging.
• Water regularly with small amounts of water.

In the ornamental bed you can fertilize the ornamental plant in spring with compost or horn shavings. The evergreen snowball is a frugal plant that is one of the weakly consuming woody plants. In the flower pot, it is advisable to fertilize the plant from March to August with liquid nutrients from the market. Follow the packaging instructions. An oversupply of minerals can damage the plant.

Tip : Yellow discolored and weakly drooping leaves can indicate a lack of nutrients.

Multiply

The pleasantly scented plant can be propagated using sinkers and cuttings. Both variants are simple and can be implemented without extensive preparation or botanical knowledge. When propagating by subsidence, the rooting shoots remain connected to the mother plant until they themselves have a sufficiently large network of roots. The ideal time for this type of propagation is in late summer, around the end of August.

• Bend a slightly woody shoot “U” -shaped down to the ground.
• In the middle, the branch is slightly incised on the underside.
• Cover this part of the plant a few centimeters high with substrate.
• If necessary, weigh down with a small stone.
• Keep the soil sufficiently moist.

You can tell whether and when the root formation has been completed by the formation of new leaves on the sinker. Cut off the connection to the mother plant and move the young plant into a new planter or at a new location.

Cuttings can be cut anytime from March to August. Use slightly woody shoots here. Either you take head cuttings – the top six inches of a branch – or you choose a complete, strong shoot. Shorten this into pieces of 12 to 15 cm each. Each piece of plant should have at least two pairs of leaves. The remaining leaves are removed. This ensures that the cutting does not use unnecessary energy to supply the leaves, but rather to grow the roots. Choose tall planters or plant the unrooted shoot outdoors.

• Bury the cutting 2/3 in the ground.
• Protect from direct sunlight.
• The substrate must not dry out.

The formation of the roots can take 6 to 8 weeks. Water regularly during this time. Even a single drying out of the soil can lead to the death of the cuttings. The sinker, on the other hand, is supplied with nutrients and water by the mother plant all the time.

Tip : The cultivation of seeds is difficult and not recommended for this musk herb plant.

plant

The evergreen Schnellball is not a small perennial. If it is possible for the plant, it uses the space available to it for its lush and broad growth. In the wild it is advisable to keep a minimum distance of about 80 cm between the individual specimens. This allows you to create a thick, opaque hedge. Provided your garden is in an area with mild winter. The Mediterranean snowball is already freezing around zero. You can also cultivate the plant in containers. The pots should be 30 cm or more in diameter. There are different requirements for planting in the ornamental bed and in the tub.

Outdoors :

• The planting hole must be twice the size and depth of the root ball.
• Loosen the surrounding soil sufficiently with a digging fork.
• Scatter compost into the planting hole.
• Enrich the excavated earth with humus.
• Mix heavy substrate with pebbles or sand.
• Insert the laurel-leaved snowball up to the upper edge of the roots.
• Refill processed soil.
• Press the substrate vigorously and water sufficiently.

Flowerpot:

• Place drainage made of porous material on the floor.
• Apply a 5 cm thick substrate layer.
• Insert the plant.
• Fill the cavities with earth.
• Press firmly and pour.

You should move the Mediterranean snowball into a larger container about every 3 to 4 years. With this measure, the old substrate is replaced by fresh soil at the same time.

To cut

Evergreen viburnum is very easy on pruning. The ornamental plant is quick to forgive any mistakes that may have been made. The shape and clearance cut can be made in spring and autumn. In doing so, transversely growing or unwanted shoots are severely shortened. Dead branches can be removed all year round. The plant can be pulled into a small high trunk with little effort. To do this, cut the lower shoots of the bay-leaf snowball close to the trunk. If you wish, you can still trim the crown into shape. This step allows the height of the Mediterranean plant to be kept somewhat under control.

Overwinter

The Mediterranean snowball is only partially hardy. Temperatures below -5 ° C can cause the death of the evergreen plant. Before the onset of the first frost, it is advisable to move the crop to a cool, bright room.

• Temperatures between 5 ° – 10 ° C are ideal
• Avoid active heat sources.
• The plant must not be exposed to drafts.
• Keep the root ball moderately moist.
• Do not fertilize.

Only a few areas in our latitudes are suitable for the evergreen snowball to remain outdoors during the winter. Older specimens are less susceptible than younger plants. Put a thick layer of bark mulch in the fall to prevent the soil from freezing. Due to its slow decomposition, the material supplies the plants with valuable nutrients at the same time. As an extra safety measure, you can wrap the lower part of the trunk in burlap.

Diseases and pests

The leaves of the Mediterranean snowball avoid harmful insects. Discolored foliage and drooping shoots are in many cases more the result of a lack of care than a disease. Always check the substrate and soil moisture. Prolonged exposure to water can cause the roots of the plant to rot. The plant clearly cares and an intrusive smell penetrates the substrate. There is no antidote to the disease caused by the asphyxia. Even strong chemical fungicides cannot contain an infestation. Immediately transfer the plant to fresh substrate. If the roots have not yet completely decomposed, the plant can regenerate again.

Conclusion

Viburnum tinus, as the bay-leaved viburnum is botanically known, is an interesting plant. This is due, among other things, to the white to pink flower umbels, which bring color to the winter garden from late autumn to spring. The plant is easy to cultivate and does not require any special care.