Witch Hazel

TREE OF THE MONTH - JANUARY 2017 WITCH HAZEL

20/1/2017

Witch Hazel at Hillier Gardens - Hamamelis mollis 'Boskoop'

January can be a little short of colour. The snowdrops have yet to arrive and the spring blossoms seem an age away. To help me through this bleak month, I planted a Witch Hazel 'Pallida' in the garden where it is in full view from the warmth of my kitchen. It is in flower as I write, its pale but bright yellow flowers defying the frost and cheering the day. In fact it was in flower on Christmas day and, despite its relative anonymity from March onwards, it earns its place for this display of exuberance when much else lies dormant. And it will still be showy for another couple of months yet so it more than pays it's way. Ok, so it is usually more of a shrub, but some can get to small tree size and so January's Tree of the Month it is.

Flowers emerging in the frost at Hearne HQ on Boxing Day

'Pallida' - image by Donar Reiskoffer CC BY 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

The common name, Witch Hazel, derives from the passing resemblance of the leaves to our common Hazel - though they are entirely unrelated - which led early settlers to America to use the shoots for water divining - this possibly earning it the 'witch' in its name. Another possible origin is the Middle English 'wiche' meaning pliant - with Witch Hazel thought to have been used as a synonym for Wych Elm that the American settlers simply transferred to the new shrub. But you may associate the name more with a variety of commercial medical products. It is mostly used as a lotion for applying to bumps and bruises - it's certainly in our medicine cupboard and has been splashed over the kids many a time, though I have no idea whether it actually does any good. It is also often used as a natural remedy for eczema, aftershave applications, ingrown nails, to prevent sweating of the face, cracked or blistered skin, and for treating insect bites.

The Witch Hazels are in the Hamamelidaceae family and are closely related to Persian Ironwood, Sweet Gum and Katsura - all excellent trees. There are four or five species in America, China and Japan and all are distinguished by their thin spidery petals. Some of the best known (and most easily available here) are cultivars of the hybrid Hamamemis x intermedia, which is a cross between the Chinese Hamamelis mollis and the Japanese Hamamelis japonica. To confuse matters, they can be grafted onto the American Hamamelis virginiana.

The flowers are also said to be beautifully scented, but for the life of me I can't smell a thing. Christopher Lloyd, in his 'The Well Tempered Garden' writes of bringing a branch into the house where the warmth releases the scent better - but he warns that the flowers will only last a fortnight indoors after which he is sorely tempted to harvest another, and then again and again until he has decimated the tree.

Many varieties were originally raised at Kalmthout nursery in Belgium where as early as 1902 the nurseryman Kort had a collection. In the late 1920's the nursery was bought by Jelena and Robert de Belder who carried on Kort's work, particuarly selecting for the more red flower colours. The first they named was 'Jelena' with burnt orange flowers, then with red flowers came 'Diane' named after their daughter, and then a deep red they called 'Livia' after their grand daughter. Something of this tradition remains, there is a 'Robert', 'Chris', 'Alexander', 'Harry' and 'Nina' as well as my namesake 'John'. Some cultivars are pictured below - though to my eye there is little difference between some.