The Blooming Witch Hazel
It’s wonderful to see the gardens transform this time of year.
Here at my Bedford, New York farm the witch hazel shrubs are blooming. With their fragrant, butter yellow to orange and scarlet red flowers, witch hazels add a lovely spark of life to otherwise gray winter landscapes. Although witch hazel has many common names, its generic name means “together with fruit” - it is the only tree in North America to have flowers, ripe fruit, and next year’s leaf buds on its branches at the same time. Their diversity, beauty, and all-season appeal make them one of the most well-loved garden specimens.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- Witch hazel grows as small trees or shrubs with numerous clusters of rich yellow to fiery orange-red flowers. Common names include Witch hazel, American Witch hazel, Common Witch hazel, Winterbloom, Snapping Hazelnut, Striped Alder, Spotted Alder, Tobacco-wood, and Water-witch.
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- The name witch hazel is a derivation from the Old English “wice” or “wiche” meaning pliant or bendable. Early settlers used the pliable branches to make bows for hunting. The same forked branches also became favorite witching sticks of dowsers, who used them to search for underground water. Nowadays, witch hazel is often used ornamentally as splashes of color during winter. They’re very hardy and are not prone to a lot of diseases.
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- I have a lot of witch hazel growing at the farm These smaller specimens were planted in September of 2019 and are doing very well. They perform best in full sun, or filtered shade. Witch hazels also possess shallow, slow-growing root systems, which do best in large planting areas. Fortunately, I have a lot of room to grow these pretty shrubs. I have several mature shrubs near my Summer House and more near my allee of lindens.
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- The leaves of witch hazel are oblong with large, wavy teeth, and uneven bases.
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- In autumn, the soft leaves turn a fine yellow before dropping.
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- Most species bloom from January to March and display beautiful spidery flowers that let off a slightly spicy fragrance. Some of the varieties I grow here at my farm include hybrids Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Feuerzauber’, ‘Diane’, ‘Jelena’, ‘Old Copper’, and Hamamelis japonica ‘Superba’.
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- Witch hazel is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae. There are four types of witch hazel – Hamamelis virginiana, Hamamelis vernalis, Hamamelis japonica, and Hamamelis mollis. All of these produce flowers with strap-like crumpled petals. Hamamelis mollis, or Chinese witch hazel, is the most fragrant of all the species. Chinese witch hazel begins blooming as early as January and has buttery yellow petals and clear yellow fall foliage.
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- American Indians first discovered that the witch hazel bark, when boiled into a tea or mixed with animal fats into a poultice, had therapeutic qualities.
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- Witch hazel leaves, bark and twigs are used to make lotions and astringents for treating certain skin inflammations and other irritations. Japanese witch hazel, Hamamelis japonica, has showy yellow or red flowers.
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- Witch hazel works well as a natural remedy because it contains tannins, which when applied to the skin, can help decrease swelling and fight bacteria.
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- The flowers are able to curl inward to protect the inner structures from freezing during the winter. They unfurl again on milder days.
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- On this day, temperatures were in the mid-40s. One of my blue peacocks enjoyed the sun from the roof of my Polaris ATV.
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- Others rested on the other side of the stable on the burlap-covered bird baths.
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- Wildlife also appreciate witch hazel – leaves are an important food source for native insects and many native birds and animals eat the seeds that follow the flowers in the winter.
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- Witch hazels need a winter chill to achieve full flowering. For best results, temperatures should drop to at least 30-degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the species and cultivars are hardy down to negative 10-degrees Fahrenheit. Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’ is a popular cultivar with its coppery orange flowers that appear in early to mid-winter.
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- Each cluster has about 11 to 12 petals, four per flower. Most varieties reach 10 to 20 feet high and wide at maturity, witch hazels can be kept smaller with pruning once they are finished blooming.
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- The small, tan to gray, hard capsules go dormant throughout the winter and then develop over the next growing season.
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- Witch hazel will grow in one of six basic shapes – upright, vase-shaped, oval or rounded, spreading, horizontal or weeping.
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- Yesterday, we cut some branches and placed them in a vase in my servery. I love seeing the witch hazels in bloom.
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- And look what else is starting to bloom – the winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis – a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to calcareous woodland habitats in France, Italy and the Balkans, and widely naturalized elsewhere in Europe. Signs of spring are popping up everywhere, but winter is not over yet – we’re expecting an inch or two of snow today.
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