Catalog Description
Stunning midwinter bloomer is welcome off season color. Produces a tall upright, spreading shrub or small tree depending on pruning. Blooms January to March with extraordinary fragrant 1 inch flowers with exotic long ribbon like crinkled petals. Coppery orange flowers adorn the bare branches in the midst of winter. Summer foliage is lush, dark green, turning to showy red and orange in fall. Rugged shrub valued for shrub borders and as foundation planting. Ideal for wild gardens and landscapes under large shade trees. Widely adaptable award winner. Deciduous. Full sun to part shade. Slow to moderate growth 15 to 20 feet tall, 10 to 15 feet wide. |
Design Ideas
Witch hazel is an exceptional large native shrub for northern homesites. A perfect choice for breaking up long boundaries and fence lines. Makes unusual seasonal interest in out of the way walls of foundation planting. A real problem solver as understory beneath aged old shade trees. Naturally adapted to compositions of mixed woodlands of evergreens and deciduous forest trees. Let it go native in wild gardens among natives, grouped with other species from indigenous plant communities. Exceptionally valuable for transition zones separating cultivated landscapes from undisturbed wildlands. |
Companion Plants
With pronounced cold hardiness, group with other northern shrubs such as Magic Berry Coralberry, (Symphoricarpos x doorensbosii 'Magic Berry'), Pagoda Dogwood, (Cornus alternifolia), Eastern Snowball, (Viburnum opulus 'Sterile') and Sensation Lilac, (Syringa vulgaris 'Sensation').
It's excellent with native perennials such as Gateway Joe Pye Weed, (Eupatorium purpureum), Variegated Jacob's Ladder, (Polemonium 'Brise D'anjou'), King of Hearts Bleeding Heart, (Dicentra x 'King of Hearts').
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Average Landscape Size
Large, spreading shrub to 15 to 20 ft. tall, 10 to 15 ft. wide. |
Key Plant Benefits
Rich coppery-orange flowers on this unusual shrub add blazing color to the winter landscape. Flowers with wavy, strap-like petals appear on the bare branches. Plant near entries and patios. |
Care Instructions
Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. Watering can be reduced after establishment. Feed with a general purpose fertilizer before new growth begins in spring. |
Growth Conditions
| Growth Rate |
 Moderate Growing |
| Growth Habit |
| Spreading |
| Heat Zones |
High:
| 9 (>120 to 150 days) |
| Low: | 2 (1 to 7 days) |
| Cold Hardiness |
| High: | 8 (10 to 20 F) (see map) |
| Low: | 5 (-20 to -10 F) |
| Water Requirements |
| Water regularly, when top 3 in. of soil is dry. |
| Sun Exposure |
| Full sun |
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Flowering
Flower or Bloom description:
Star-shaped with crinkled, ribbon-like petals.
| Flower Color |
| Orange |
| Flowering Time/Season |
| Long-lasting blooms December-March. |
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Propagation
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Attributes
Winter Flowering |
Foliage
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Plant Lore
The American witch hazels were so named because they were used as dowsing rods by colonials who could not obtain the wood of their English hazel in the New World for that purpose. All species contain high tannin content and have been a part of the cosmetic industry as an old fashioned astringent known as witch hazel. Native Americans used it in dozens of remedies and as a valuable coagulant. . |
Plant History
The ancestors of this modern hybrid are both from Asia. One parent is the highly variable H. japonica, collected and classified by Von Siebold and introduced by the English nursery firm of Vietch and Sons. The other parent, H. mollis, is native to China and collected by Charles Maries in the district of Kukiang in 1879 while working for Veitch. The plant was not officially classified as x Hamamelis until the turn of the century when this new line of Asian witch hazels, not the native Hamamelis, were brought into American Gardens. |
New Plant
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