The following was received via email: Late spring, I dug up my snowflake viburnum and moved it to a different spot to enhance my garden landscape. A large hole was dug and filled with fertilizer before moving it. It has not bloomed at all this summer and is now looking quite leggy and unhealthy. Should I trim it back? What did I do wrong? I'm very worried!!!
This response from the shrub is common if: Growing conditions have changed from one location to the other, in particular light exposure. Excess nitrogen fertilizer (manures can be a culprit) and possibly just transplant stress. Wait and see through next summer if it blooms as expected.
I would agree wholeheartedly with the analysis in the previous post and add that if the shrub is pruned now, most of next year's flowers will be sacrificed. The time to prune (if indeed, the shrub requires it) is immediately following the first flush of blooms in the spring. Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake' is known for its nearly continuous flowering throughout the growing season, but the heaviest flowering occurs when the maximum amount of one-year old and older growth is maintained. The feeding of deciduous shrubs such as Viburnum plicatum with fertilizers -- organic or otherwise -- is also mostly unnecessary, unless the soil in which the plants are growing is exceptionally sandy. Leaf litter is usually a perfectly adequate source of nutrients.
