Larger image is still sideways.....I think its a GW problem :-) Probably Viburnum plicatum 'Popcorn', which has a growth habit much more like a snowball viburnum than a doublefile viburnum and very snowball-looking flowers. But definitely a plicatum, as the flowers are clearly arranged in a row along the top of the branches rather than at the terminal ends like snowball viburnums are.

thx for the help...First( concerning how I know about the bush)the man who sold us the house is a decendent of the family who built it...(he made us promise not to cut it down)second, the man who had the house built,founded the town i live in and there are quite a few published booklets that we obtained from the historical society.(in one of them, there is a list of his assets...it talks about his wife's "heirloom "plants and bushes)There are pics of his son in 1880's standing in front of the "bush" that we have.Thanks so much for your help and I'll check out the shrubs forum.

Is that a type of hydrangea or viburnum? It's not too early for aphids. I saw a bunch on some milkweed I have coming up in the yard. The only plant the aphids totally ruin in my yard is my Dropmore Scarlet honeysuckle. They suck it so dry that the flower buds wither up and never open. If I find ladybugs, that's where I put them.

purpleinopp, thx for your response. I have always used the intermittent mist propagation technique using coarse sand as my medium. Sand is cheap and the bed and timer takes care of babysitting the cuttings for me. I root large quantities of plants, many, many different kinds and then transfer to pots of soil once they establish a nice root mass. I do this for many reasons: for fun, to "free-scape" parts of my yard, to have plenty of plants to share at plant swaps and hopefully at some point to start selling some at farmers markets, plant yard sales, etc.... I originally started with a nursery bed to put rooted cuttings in but found it to be easier, at least for my needs, to put them directly into pots instead, especially if the end goal is to either give many of them away or sell them. Hardest part is keeping up with summer watering needs since they can dry out quickly. The potting mix I make was based on many suggestions, posts, blogs and websites from other propagators and growers and everything else seems to transfer well to it except for the viburnum. I just read someone else who propagates viburnum uses a commercial potting soil mixed 1/2 with sand. I may try rooting them directly in that and then just up-potting as lyndapaz suggested instead of rooting in the propagation sand box. I may also attempt air and/or ground layering with my large mother plant. As for timing, I prefer to work with soft wood to semi-hardwood cuttings in mid-late spring/early summer on most things and that's typically what I've been rooting from the viburnum. I am less familiar with hardwood cuttings and never tried them much, mostly because of the patience needed for them to root. Perhaps I should give those a shot as well on this one. Danielle