Viburnum opulus

No Australian reference read gives this species a frost, heat or drought rating. HortFlora, the horticultural flora of south-eastern Australia, describes it among its garden and cultivated plants as a deciduous shrub to about 4 m, flowering in summer, its leaves red in autumn. The RHS describes it as a shrub to 5 m, though its height band runs to 8 m, above every other figure read. The RHS gives full sun or part shade and a moderately fertile, humus-rich soil that is moist but well-drained, on chalk, clay, loam or sand, acid to alkaline; the Missouri Botanical Garden says it prefers loams with consistent moisture but tolerates a wide range of soils. The RHS rates it H6, and the American references give USDA zones 2a to 8b (North Carolina State Extension) and 3 to 8 (the Missouri Botanical Garden). Both American references call it weedy in North America: North Carolina State Extension says it is now found in the wild from Newfoundland to Virginia and west to Washington state, and the Missouri Botanical Garden that it has naturalised in parts of the northeastern and Midwestern United States north into Canada. The Atlas of Living Australia holds records of it from New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.

Growers list the species under its own name and as named forms: the sterile snowball tree, 'Roseum', with 'Notcutt's Variety', 'Compactum' and 'Aureum'. HortFlora describes 'Notcutt's Variety' as a robust shrub to 4 m or so with exceptionally large fruit and stronger autumn colour, 'Nanum' as a dwarf to 1 m that rarely flowers, and 'Xanthocarpum' as yellow-fruited. The RHS says the fruit is ornamental and not to be eaten and advises gloves when handling the plant; the Missouri Botanical Garden calls the berries technically edible but very bitter, and North Carolina State Extension says they can be eaten off the bush or used in jams. Stock that crosses a state border moves under the state and territory biosecurity rules on moving plants and soil.