Witch hazel

Witch hazel is a valuable addition to cool-climate gardens for its colourful autumn foliage and spidery winter flowers, writes JUDY HORTON

Just as we start to tire of the pared-back winter garden, the cheery blooms of witch hazel (Hamamelis spp.) make their appearance. Spidery flowers in yellow, orange and red tones form on still-bare stems, their sweet fragrance magnified by the cool air. These upright, deciduous shrubs make a wonderful addition to a border shrubbery, where the colour and fragrance of the flowers can delight passers-by, or you can train them as small specimen trees to allow underplanting.

The flowers can also be enjoyed indoors as dramatic arrangements in late winter and early spring. Don’t be heavy-handed when picking for the vase or you’ll run the risk of setting back these slow-maturing beauties. If anything, reserve severe pruning for the colonising shoots at the base, which, left to their own devices, will attempt to take over the neighbourhood.

Chinese witch hazel (H. mollis) is a shrub or small tree that performs best in areas where traditional rhododendrons flourish – this means cool winter temperatures, well-drained, acidic soil that never dries out completely, and a sunny or lightly shaded position. Trim lightly after flowering, if required, and feed in spring with a slow-release fertiliser that suits camellias. The name mollis, meaning soft, refers to the felted leaves, which have charming autumn colours.

H. mollis ‘Pallida’, an award winner raised in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley garden in the UK, is renowned for its densely packed, greenish-yellow winter flowers with a strong perfume.

Chinese witch hazel has been crossed with its closely related Japanese cousin

H. japonica to produce some desirable cultivars (usually grouped as Hamamelis x intermedia). These include H. x intermedia ‘Jelena’, with coppery-orange flowers that glow in the winter sunshine, ‘Diane’, which is a red-flowered form with larger leaves that produce an excellent autumn display, and ‘Arnold Promise’, an upright grower that flowers a little later than other hybrids.

The American First Nations people used their native witch hazel H. virginiana to treat skin irritations and wounds, and the early Puritan settlers adopted these remedies. It is still commonly used as a source of herbal extracts and ointments. In Australia, plants can be found at some nurseries and herb suppliers. Its pliable stems have also been used as divining rods to find underground water. H. virginiana likes the same cool conditions as the Asian witch hazels, and has similar flowers, but it blooms earlier, from autumn through to early winter.

LEFT TO RIGHT, AND MAIN Blooms unfurling on Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’; H. x intermedia ‘Diane’; H. x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’; H. virginiana has delicate yellow flowers; H. mollis ‘Pallida’ covered in blooms.