Not surprisingly, I have been enjoying my witch hazels in recent weeks, from the moment they began flowering at the turn of the year. Some are perhaps on the wane now, but there is still plenty of colour on all of them. Why not come and admire them with me?
‘Harry’, above and below, was one of my first successful purchases (and I must confess to having some witch hazel ‘sticks’ before him that didn’t survive) and he remains my favourite. Bought just over 20 years ago, he is not quite yellow, and not quite orange, and the photo above shows off his handsome features well. About 3 feet away from one of the kitchen windows, he is my direct view while I am in the kitchen and I love him to bits!
H ‘Diana’, in the streamside grass, is also one of the oldest in my small collection, and more of a scarlet woman than the photo suggests:
Near her, and partially under the apple trees, are H ‘Zuccariniana’ (foreground) and H ‘Ruby Glow’, both in flower this year. Perhaps because of their location, these two don’t flower every year, possibly because they get too dry in summer, although I do try to remember to water them. Witch hazels do vary in their habit, and the former tends to grow more horizontally than vertically, which has both advantages and disadvantages.
H ‘Arnold Promise’, usually the last to flower but not so this year, is perhaps the only one of mine to have a reliable fragrance when in bloom, even on cooler days. Perhaps Arnold promised fragrance? If he did, he has come up trumps…
With the other witches on the wane, I am deviating from them for the last of my Six on Saturday, the meme kindly hosted by Jim Of Garden Ruminations, by featuring Daphne ‘Jacqueline Postill’. After a period of her not being available for a number of
Read more on ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com