Hi, I dont have any of the hamamelis varieties you listed, but I do have some vernal witch hazel. Better known as ozark witch hazel. The blooms are very fragrant and have a reddish tint. If interested just let me know. Thanks, Darla

I'm not convinced that your plant is 'Arnold Promise', or even or 'Sunburst' as you've seemingly already narrowed down to. That's certainly not 'Arnold Promise', and the ribbony flowers are too thin and fleeting to be 'Sunburst'. The extremely fuzziness of the flower stem/peduncles makes me think H. mollis, but that species is extremely fragrant... Your idea of it being 'Allgold' could be quite good! Narrow petals that twist, etc. and it certainly is a very early blooming H. x intermedia. Do you have the book (or access to) "Witch Hazels" by Chris Lane? It could prove tremendously helpful. The only dilemma is that among yellow-flowering witch hazels, a key ID feature is measuring the length and width of flower petals...and that's something that's in the millimeters. Tedious...

Thanks everyone for the responses. Bboy: I've looked up Autumn Embers and it looks like a great one for my purposes. If I don't plant it here, I'll definitely plant it at my next place, in which I hope to have a "Witch Hazel" grove. Whaas: Thanks for the info. My main concern is yellow-gold fall color, although a mix is nice. I'm really trying to get more yellows into the fall scene here, as it seems like everything is cultivated toward the reds when the growers are going for fall color! I'm going to research vernalis more. Mainegrowers and Whaas: Yes, I think I'm finding out that it takes a really good freeze before the color really gets going. I have noticed that most of my fall color comes so late (Grn. Mtn. Sugar Maple colors just before everything dies for winter!) so I'm trying to balance it to get a really long and beautiful (lots of mixed colors) autumnscape. Re: Rare Find: I initially called them but received little help -just read to me, out of a catalogue or something, info. that I could find on my own. I was really looking for info. from people who could give me advice from their own experience. Perhaps I just caught the wrong two people at RFN that day. Nhbabs: You've said some intriguing things. I've always nixed planing Fothergilla as my soil pH is somewhere along the lines of 7.1, but I see azaleas and things growing around here, so perhaps if one plants them with a lot of organic matter and feeds them with some food geared toward acid-prefering plants, it would work. (On that thought, I think WH is an acid prefering tree, so I guess I could try the Fothergilla since I seem to think that WH will work here!) COULD YOU GIVE ME A LITTLE MORE INFO. ON THE BRANCHING HABIT OF VERNALIS VS. VIRGINIANA? Besides fall color, one of the main things that interest me in the garden with shrubs and trees is form. Also, I noted your thoughts on winter die-back, and I do think now that I may go with virginiana or vernalis, at least in this cold garden. Thanks again, everyone! Amy

Did you ever find the information you were seeking on witch hazels? If you're still searching, try the web site for Rare Find Nursery in Jackson, NJ; link is below. I've always found their web site to be a good source of information. Just enter hamamelis in the search box in the upper right corner of the home page and you'll find information and photos on many different witch hazels. This nursery is about 20 minutes south of me; it's not far from Six Flags/Great Adventure ... but I'd much rather spend the day at Rare Find ;-) and is one of my favorite nurseries because they're serious, not glitzy, about what they do. Here is a link that might be useful: Rare Find Nursery