A single stem of the Vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, below) has begun to flower at the start of January, and though the blooms are small and not brightly colored, there is a satisfaction that the gardener has done something right to be rewarded with winter flowers. In fact, there is no particular skill in…
Tag: witch hazel
Arnold is lost
Sadly, the large ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ below) is now a pile of sticks tossed aside in the rear garden. For now, there are too many branches accumulated from shrubs killed in the winter to get rid of them properly, but eventually the piles will be consolidated and disposed of….
The last of winter’s damage
Two evergreen magnolias that perished in winter still stand at the margin of the rear garden. I haven’t been able to summon the energy to undertake the task to cut these into pieces small enough to dispose of, so they will remain until I’m properly motivated. Only one can be seen by a neighbor, and…
In the mud and the muck
The lower garden is sinking, I’m afraid. Why, is partly a mystery, but in recent years the back third of the garden has become wetter, for longer periods of time. There have always been times in early spring when sections of the rear garden are wet enough to suck the shoes off your feet, and…
Flowers in the snow
More than a few times this winter, enthusiasm has been quashed by another spell of extreme cold or more inches of snow. As soon as buds of hellebores show signs that flowering is imminent, they are buried for another week under six inches of snow. Finally, ‘Diane’ (above) and ‘Jelena’ (below) witch hazels (Hamamelis x…
The scent of winter
Despite the horrid cold of recent days, the vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, above) blooms on, though the ribbon-like petals curl tightly in the worst of the freeze for protection (below). My wife tells me that scents are muted by the cold, but I’ve never paid much attention to this because I’m generally resistant to…
Mistaken identity
The nursery owner was a bit of a kook. Or, perhaps he was overly anxious to make a sale, any sale. The recession had been raging for several years at this point, and many neighboring tree growers in mid Tennessee had fallen on hard times. It appeared that few trees had left this fellow’s fields…
Bewitching
The yellow flowered, hybrid ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel (Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’) has struggled through this year. As far as I can see, nothing of consequence has changed in the nearby area to cause the soil to be continually damp, but water has often pooled in the area and the witch hazel objected by…
It’s wet, with predictable results
Along the southern boundary of the back half of the rear garden is a shallow depression that runs a hundred feet or more to the back of the property. From beneath the concrete footer of the garden shed a damp weather spring emanates, and in much of the year water runs through this low area,…
Wet feet
The back half of the rear garden is prone to wet soils through the spring, or in any period with an inch or more rainfall in a week. In September last year there was more than a foot of rain from various hurricanes and tropical storms, and this part of the garden stayed waterlogged into…
The scent of the late winter garden
I have a terrible sniffer. I can barely discern all but the strongest scents, but this afternoon the garden was filled with sweet fragrances. The blooms of the vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis, below) are beginning to fade after six weeks, but its scent was evident from halfway across the rear garden. Perhaps it would…
Which witch hazel is which
I find myself dumbfounded on occasion, maybe even frequently. Last year I purchased a large witch hazel (seven feet tall and nearly as wide) that was labelled by the grower as Hamamelis virginiana, the native witch hazel of the mid Atlantic. My confusion began when the leaves dropped in early November. The leaves are not…
Ramblin' through Dave's Garden 