hey!!! you keep coming back.. so you must want some learnin .... lets start class ... first ... the adage "first year they sleep, second crawl, third leap' is usually applied to hosta.. and i suppose.. a lot of larger perennials... i cant recall ever hearing it applied to shrubs ...but i suppose its possible ... now.. as to flowers ....lets set this in a time line ... setting aside all transplant issues .... the shrub flowers ... mostly in spring with shrubs.. with a few exceptions... then usually they take about a 3?? month siesta of growing leaves and storing energy ... how this all goes depends on the ambient weather at this time ... sometime in summer.. they start to SET buds for the next year .. again.. this development is weather dependent ... think about a severe hail storm decimating the new buds ... and dont forget drought ... and then fall comes.. and they prepare for winter.. and again.. it is weather dependent .... think about severe drought in aug/sept/oct ... then.. perhaps you decided to love you plant to death.. and somehow justified them needing food late in the fall ... throwing on gobs of fertilizer late in the season ... and then a hard frost or freeze hits.. and instead of having cycled down.. or hardened off to winter ... your FED plants were in fast vegetative growth.. and suffered severe frost freeze damage ... plus the drought.. plus the hailstorms ... throw all of winter on top of that.. lol .. including any severe temps not only cold... which yours should take.. but even prolonged warm spikes when it is supposed to be winter ... now.. all that said.. can you understand why for the life of us.. we most likely can not tell you why you had fewer flowers this year ... why dont you .. pop quiz.. lol ...wrap your head around the theory.. and you try to recall the weather since bud development occurred last year .. and speculate as to which vagary of mother nature.. severely impacted flowering ... we will grade you on a curve.. so dont worry about that .. as they said in law school: DISCUSS AND DECIDE .... blue books open... be back in an hour to collect your thoughts.. lol have a great day ... ken

It may be your confusion/concern relates to some issues with terminology :-) Witch hazels, Hamamelis species, are really considered to be shrubs, not trees. Multiple stems/trunks originating at ground level or occurring very close to ground level are not at all uncommon - in fact, are pretty characteristic of the plant. Much harder to locate a specimen that has anything resembling a clear trunk. No leaders ('leaders' are not associated with shrubs and are even limited to occurrence on certain types of trees). This low splitting/branching seldom creates any structural problems so no need to remove, Pruning on witch hazels is seldom required or needed except to remove any suckering growth emerging from below the graft on any grafted forms.

I have both shrubs and have been severely dissapointed w/the Vernal Witchhazel. I've moved it twice b/c it never seems to bloom-or does so very lack lusterly. Mine is in mostly sun until the canopy trees fill in. Its also a very slow grower. I am however loving the Allspice!!! My allspice gets a great deal of shade, but has bloomed very nicely. The shape is very attractive and has grown a great deal. I plan on adding a few more b/c I am so impressed with it. Its form can be seen from far away b/c of the leaf structure. The allspice is fragrant, although I've found you have to rub against it or crush a leave to get its scent. Perhaps closer to your deck it would be more fragrant. The Vernal witch hazel would look better in a woodland, less manicured garden. I don't think its a speciment plant... Neither is impressive in the fall or winter, IMO. Good luck!

Ooh! Thanks for the tips. I've definitely got to figure out where to plant them. I see the Polly Hill Arboretum link runktrun provided above says the Ozarks one enjoys alkaline soil- ours is very neutral which is nice, but should I put lime down twice a year for this plant? While my plants are pretty small, I made a note to prune the molis for best results. Diggingthedirt: I like the two ideas of planting in front of evergreens and in a location where they can be backlit. 'Gardening by the Yard' on HGTV had a whole show on lighting up your garden with plants that catch the light. What a concept! I may have a great spot that is the best of both worlds, near an evergreen with back lighting from the south west, when the sun goes down. I also saw that the zone 6 'Wisley Supreme' might drop its flowers in a harsh late winter. Some places on my property are zone 5, and because of wind breaks etc., some areas are zone 6, so I will have to consider this carefully.