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New England Gardening

Happy New Witch Hazel (Hamamelis) plants

17 years ago

Thanks to my CT Swap friends and other CT GardenWeb'rs, I have learned of so many rewarding perennials, creating a succession of bloom in my CT garden and some great nurseries around the state.

One of those nurseries is Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden, who specializes in, mountain laurel, the CT state flower as well as other wonderful shrubs like the gorgeous magnolia and witch hazels.

In an effort to have year round interest and late winter/early spring blooms I recently paid a visit to Broken Arrow for witch hazel, which is a vase-shaped shrub with typically yellow airy floral bursts all along it's branches very early spring. Of the large variety I chose two; Hamamelis molis 'Wisley Supreme' and Hamamelis vernalis 'Sandra'. Wish me luck on growing them well! I was very excited to get my first witch hazels!

Here are their catalog descriptions:

Wisley Supreme Chinese Witch Hazel (Zone 6) An outstanding selection with abundant, highly fragrant blossoms appearing over an extended period in late winter and early spring. One of the best!

Sandra Ozark Witch Hazel (zone 4) A wonderful cultivar with spicy scented, golden-yellow flowers in late winter. Following the foliage display the young foliage emerges with attractive purple overtones. In the fall the display returns with a striking showcase of yellow-orange to red-crimson autumn colors.

The staff there at Broken Arrow Nursery are as pleasant and informative as can be! I highly recommend you pay them a visit if you haven't already.

See you at the CT Swap with WildBill!

Here is a link that might be useful: Broken Arrow Nursery

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Comments (4)

runktrun
17 years ago
denal,
You sounded so excited about your new Witch Hazels that I thought I would share this link to a page on these under used tree's from the Polly Hill Arboretum. I thought it was interesting that they suggest pruning to keep small the Chinese Witch Hazel. kt

Here is a link that might be useful: Witch Hazels /PH
diggingthedirt
17 years ago
I love witch hazel too. My 3 are all varieties of Hamamelis x intermedia
- 'Diane' - red blooms in February/March
- 'Jelena' - coppery blooms in Late January
- 'Arnold Promise' - clear yellow, longest blooming (for me)
One of the best things about witch hazel is that the flowers are "frost proof" - unlike some other winter-flowering shrubs where you can lose the whole show and have to hope that the shrub will start over with a new batch of flowers. The witch hazel flowers seem impervious to cold snaps and just stay put, biding their time until it warms up a bit. Last year, Arnold must have been in bloom for about 3 months because of the way the cold weather came and went.

By the way, many people will tell you to plant them in front of large evergreens. I didn't do that, I think they are most spectacular planted where they'll be back-lit by the rising or setting sun.

Hope you love your new WHs as much as I love mine!
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Looking for several small plants, or well-rooted cuttings or suckers of Hamamelis virginiana and/or H. vernalis. (Please no Chinese or Japanese witch-hazel, just natives. If you're not sure which kind you have, please don't offer.) I'll be glad to take these any time from about mid-March through October, whatever is easiest for you. I have lots to offer in exchange, but my trade list isn't always reliable, as it changes so quickly. Things are coming & going faster than I can keep up with! However, I should at least have: Agastache 'honey bee blue' Anemone canadensis - canada anemone Caryopteris - blue mist, bluebeard Chelone glabra Gaillardia 'Goblin' - blanket flower Helenium 'Indian Summer' Iris fulva - copper iris Iris 'Copper Lustre' - old-fashioned tall bearded Iris virginica hybrid 'Gerald Darby' - leaves emerge with purple coloring, stems dark purple Liatris spicata blazing star Lobelia siphilitica - great blue lobelia Native Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus' - Eulalia grass, maiden grass Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline' - red beebalm, oswego tea - mildew resistant variety Myosotis - forget-me-nots Nepeta mussini - catmint schlumbergera - christmas cactus - 'Freida' - brilliant salmon color I'll likely have more to offer as well!
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Once established Hamamelis virginiana has moderate drought tolerance. They do prefer slighly acidic soil so you should be ok, you won't get a 30 footer but it will still do good given proper planting and aftercare. I have my Hamamelis vernalis in a fairly dry, exposed location and it hasn't exhibited any signs of stress...it just isn't putting on alot of growth.
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Glad I found this Post but I've spent my garden budget for the next 3 or 4 months. LOL. I went to the Fairweather garedns site and had spent the March April alotment before finishing the "C's". Figured If I was making the trip I might as well get enough to make it worthwhile....so I kept going. What a terrific selection. I can hardly wait to get to the open house.\Thanks for the tip Scarzi
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Hamamelis vernalis (Ozark Witch-hazel)
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Comments (2)
I find the color variation doesn't show up unless you are right in tight to the plant, at which point I can also detect its scent. The flowers are quite subtle compared to the x intermedia hybrids and read as light orange, so I planted mine where it is viewed with a backdrop of hemlocks so the flowers are more visible. As it has widened since this photo, I have noticed how little the flowers show up against the background of non-evergreen woodlands though they might also show well against some colors of buildings. The retained leaves might bug me if it were where I saw it more frequently, but it is where it requires walking through deep snow to see it, so I have to remind myself to walk around to that spot in April which often still has a fair amount of snow. I think it will be a large plant since mine is over my head at 5 years in the ground in an area that isn't watered or cared for beyond occasional mulch renewal and a bit of weeding.
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denal
Original Author
17 years ago
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.
WendyB 5A/MA
17 years ago
I got 'Diane' a few years ago and it had a hard time getting established. I thought I was going to lose it, but it finally filled in. Last week I noticed it was in bloom for the first time ever! Very Happy!! The plant is still small so it is not very showy yet, but I can see where background will be important.

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