I do find my various species of viburnum to have a tendency to gather aphids. I do grow opulus. I have found however that after a few years in the ground, when they get taller, the problem is not significant. While they are small I shoot them with water once or twice a week and that controls the problem quite well. They have such pretty flowers and some have beautiful fruit so I have put up with the maintenance for a few years. I wonder if others have found the aphid problem declines sharply when they get larger. I hope that could be the case for you!

If I pulled out everything that was having problems with aphids this year, almost everything would have to go. This is a really bad year for them compared to the last 3 years (at my place anyway). I would give the shrub a chance and try the method that Evonline suggests to control them.

ok, thanks for talking me down from the ledge! i'll try to get it back into the ground tomorrow, hopefully i didn't traumatize it too much. i did hear it was a bad year for aphids. the weird thing is that i usually have a problem with my winterthur viburnum each spring getting them a bit, and it's been cureable with a batch or two of ladybugs. this year though, it didn't get hit much at all, i guess all the aphids in the neighborhood went down the yard to the snowball! thanks again.

Good luck - hope she comes bouncing back from the bit of trauma!