January 10th, 2020

Add colour and fragrance to your winter garden with Witch Hazel!

Witch hazels, also known as Hamamelis, are excellent deciduous shrubs to add to your winter garden. Known best for their colourful flowers and beautiful fragrance no garden would be complete without at least one variety of Witch Hazel. The flowers are beautiful during late winter and early spring from December to February.

The stems of this plant also add structure to your garden. During the summer the green leaves provide an excellent backdrop for other flowering shrubs or excellent shade for your hosta’s or other shade plants.

Witch hazels are hardy to zone 5 (-15 F, or -23 C) and most will grow to 8 to 12 feet high and 6 to 8 feet wide. They are easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. They flower best in a sunny location. They prefer moist, acidic, organically rich soils and can tolerate heavy clay soils.

As they grow it is important to remove sucker shoots that grow from the root system to prevent them from spreading. For general pruning give them a light pruning in spring after flowering to control shape and size.

The x intermedia hybrids (H. mollis x H. japonica) are large deciduous shrubs which typically grow 12-20′ tall and feature mid to late winter flowers.

You can choose from the following varieties:

  • Hamamelis intermedia ‘Arnold’s Promise’ – bright yellow flowers
  • Hamamelis intermedia ‘Jelena’ – vibrant yellow flower
  • Hamamelis intermedia ‘Sunburst’ – bright yellow