Witch Hazel in Bloom

If only Connecticut had a category for State Botanical, Witch hazel would be the perfect candidate. The native version, Hamamelis virginiana, is a flowering shrub that grows happily along our streams and river banks, shaded by tall trees. In October and November, the shrub finally drops its cheerful yellow-orange foliage and suddenly glows brilliant yellow as its buds open into numerous ribbon-like petals surrounding the dark red calyx.

Part of our inheritance from Native Americans was the knowledge that Witch hazel’s bark could be distilled into a tonic to soothe all manner of skin ailments. Middlesex County is still the center of Witch hazel manufacture, with Dickinson Brands in East Hampton bottling the world-famous Dickinson’s Witch Hazel.

Besides its utility and beauty, the shrub has another remarkable feature: it’s an expeller of seeds. After the flowers fade and the seed capsules swell, the seeds are shot from their capsule up to twenty feet away. It’s a smart move on the plant’s part, since the seeds then can grow up in more open surrounding areas without competing for light and nutrients with its parent plant.

And, like so many of our native plants, Hamamelis has both American and Asian relatives. The Chinese and Japanese species have been hybridized to create a famous cultivar called ‘Arnold Promise’ with larger, brighter yellow flowers than our native ones, usually blooming in February and March.

Because each species has its own bloom time, a serious fan of Witch hazel could enjoy blooming from October to March in a Connecticut garden. Even better, the color range available is from palest yellow through the oranges to maroon and wine red. The picture above, taken March 6, is probably ‘Arnold Promise’ and, to this gardener’s mind, a fabulous replacement for the often garish – and always rampant – forsythia.