Question
We recently purchased a "snowball bush" and it was healthy. Now it looks like it has bugs or is drying up. It is planted in zone 5 and on north side of house with full sun in yard most of the day.  Could it be the soil type? I know they should grow well here and I planted it by our garden shed. I would appreciate any kind of knowledge abouat this bush.  Thank You.

Answer
Hi Debbie,
Thanx for your question.  In order to make a decent diagnosis I'm going to have to ask you to be a bit more specific.  With no pictures it is difficult to diagnose a problem unless there are lots of details.  You indicated that it looks like it has bugs.  Have you seen a lot of bugs on it and if so what did these bugs look like?  Did you notice if any of the leaves were chewed or were they turning brown or yellow, curling, shriveling, falling off?  This is the time of year when the big snowball flowers start to fade and they are rather unsightly as they turn yellow and brown and crumple and shrivel up.  That's natural after they have completed blooming.  You can deadhead the shrub to make it look neater but I wouldn't do any serious pruning unless it has become very messy and then only prune to neaten it up and remove dead branches.  I would not recommend planting flowering shrubs in zone 5 on the north side of anything.  Flowering shrubs need lots and lots of full sun.  Your north side must be different than mine because a good part of the day is shaded on the north side of my house.  Usually, soil isn't a problem for snowball bushes which are part of the Viburnum family.  Even clay soil doesn't seem to bother them.  I would not use a fertilizer high in nitrogen though.  A balanced fertilizer or one higher in the P and K parts of the N-P-K rating would be best.  If you find bugs, let me know and tell me what kind.  Sometimes aphids can cause problems.  You can cure this with horticultural soap and by spraying down the plant periodically with a strong spray from the garden hose.  I hope this helps.
Tom