Ep 99. Wonders of Witch Hazel

The Wonders of Witch Hazel brightens the dormant landscape and has mysterious methods of pollinating and dispersing seeds. Plus, they are easy to grow!

We chat about popular Witch Hazel hybrids, but it's the native Common or North American Witch Hazel that makes the popular astringent. And it serves as a tool for Water-Witching to detect underground water. 

Related Stories & Helpful Links:

Wonders of Witch Hazel - Blog Post

Witch Hazel has a home in  Point State Park, an Urban Garden in Pittsburgh, PA. 

And is part of a lineup in a Front Lawn Alternative. 

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I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in :^)

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 99 - Wonders of Witch Hazel

Sat, Mar 11, 2023 10:22AM • 9:44

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

flowers, plant, garden, witch hazel, bloom, suckers, grow, winter, hybrids, graft, tree, prune, bloomer, color, branch, nature, lovely, world, dilemmas, mary stone, garden, nature, inspiration

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:26

Hello there, it's Mary Stone, and welcome to the screen porch. We woke to a surprise six inches of fluff which will not linger as the temperatures are on the rise, and the winds are kicking in, as you'll likely hear. I look upon the trees, and each branch is iced in white. It's just so lovely. And then, when the wind blows, it's like a little mini blizzard. So beautiful to see. I toured the yard early in the morning, just as dawn was breaking, contemplating the magnificence of the world around us. I hope you do the same every day. Nature is such a miracle. And we are all part of it. We're part of the rhythm. 

Mary Stone  01:08

Thanks to those that reached back about last week's chat about winter flowers and folklore. The snowdrops and winter aconite resurfaced unscathed as we knew they would. And on Sunday, we came upon another winter bloomer, a sunny Witch Hazel poised in front of a property I adore on our way to a hike at Blue Mountain Lake. "Stop the truck," I said. You have so many pictures of plants, Curt was quick to respond. But there's never enough, is there? I couldn't help but snag a photograph of the yellow ribbon-like mops of flowers adorning the small vase-shaped tree with lovely smooth gray bark. I wish I could wiggle my nose and see it now powdered in the snow, though the fluff is likely already blown away. Still, it's beautiful to imagine the magnificence in my mind. And so today, we will talk about the Wonders of Witch Hazel. And it starts like this. 

Mary Stone  02:04

Hello fellow listeners and readers. I came upon a sunny flowering Witch Hazel along the road, looking stunning, offset by the copper-orange house behind it. It is such a beautiful home. It's painted in the most unusual color - as I mentioned, a copper kind of orangey and a historic colonial house. We welcome the reprieve of the tiny mops of flowers bringing color to the predominantly white and gray landscape. The late winter or early spring bloomers we see are species of mostly Asian species. 

Mary Stone  02:37

Not long ago, I visited Greenwood Gardens, a public garden in Short Hills, New Jersey and marveled over two winter-blooming hybrids. 'Heinrich Brun's' is named after a German witch hazel breeder. It's a vase-shaped eight to 10-foot shrub with yellow-edged and red-centered blooms. Then there's a reddish-orange hybrid, 'Rochester,' that grows 10 to 12 feet tall. Both are hardy in zones five to eight. And as you would guess in the show notes will be a link to the story with photographs of those lovelies. 

Mary Stone  03:09

One of the most popular hybrids is 'Jelena,' also known as 'Copper Beauty.' Introduced in the early 1950s. It became so adored it received an award of garden merit from the Royal Horticultural Society. The flowers are bright coppery orange, but when you look at them more closely, they also have yellow tips. The fall color is a glorious yellow-orange, too, so beautiful.

Mary Stone  03:34

Witch Hazel's are easy to grow, requiring little care other than keeping young plants moist until they establish. They're adaptable to many soil conditions. They tolerate sun, drought, and wind but prefer light shade and well-drained, moist soils. I adore the smooth gray bark, supple green foliage, and ball shape. Witch Hazel blooms far longer than most flowering trees - up to eight weeks or more- a fascinating feat of nature. Because not as many pollinators are scurrying about when they bloom, they must be open longer for business (smiley face). 

Mary Stone  04:11

They begin to flower during a warm spell in the winter and then protect themselves by curling up when temperatures drop. Their citrusy fragrance is such a delight though not very noticeable when you're outside. So bring a few branches into your home and enjoy the smell. 

Mary Stone  04:29

It's the native witch hazel called Common or North American witch hazel (hamamelis virginiana) that blooms in the fall through December and makes the staple astringent. I came across a swath of native beauties while hiking last October. Their leaves are golden yellow, so the fragrant crinkly flowers often go unnoticed until the glorious gold leaves drop to reveal them. But the flowers linger for months as I said. It seems fitting, based on the mysterious nature of the plant, that it blooms at a time for Halloween- a bewitching time of year. They rely upon wasps, gnats, and flies for pollination, as bees and butterflies aren't around them. 

Mary Stone  05:10

It's fascinating that while they are pollinated in the fall, fertilization doesn't occur until spring, and fruits develop slowly through the spring and summer. So this is the fun part. Once those fruits are fully ripe, they spit out the seeds in the fall when the new flowers unfurl. The tiny black seeds fly up to 30 feet all at the same time. It's such a fascinating cycle. 

Mary Stone  05:38

Legend has it that the Mohegans showed settlers how to use Y-shaped witch hazel sticks to find underground water. The dowsing stick bends towards the ground when underground water is detected, which may seem like a superstition. Yet Curtis Strong, harvester of 80 tons of witch hazel each year and the engineer that automated the EE Dickinson Witch Hazel plant in Connecticut, claimed he'd used the technique to accurately identify locations for twenty to thirty wells in his day. The practice is called "water-witching" and likely led to the plant's common name; although there is some uncertainty about that, but it sounds like it could be true. 

Mary Stone  06:20

You can use witch hazel for blemish control, heal diaper rash and shrink under-eye bags and hemorrhoids. It soothes poison ivy razor burns, sunburn, and dry skin, and you can clean your dog's ears. Talk about multitasking! It may sound too good to be true. Though one of the only plants approved by the FDA for medicinal purposes. One of the most significant benefits of witch hazel, especially those in bloom now, is lifting the winter blues. Garden Dilemmas? Ask Mary Stone.com. 

Mary Stone  06:55

There's more to the story that didn't fit into the written version of the column. So I thought I'd give you a little bit more of the tidbits here. Hybrids are grafted on the vigorous rootstock of the native common witch hazel, and so suckers tend to sprout. So be sure to plant the graft below the surface of the soil. And don't prune the suckers during the growing season, as it will stimulate more suckers. Instead, wait until the tree has gone dormant. And there's another advisory - do not heavily prune a plant as it "causes unwieldy suckers." I read somewhere that makes me laugh. 

Mary Stone  07:28

None of us like to be tampered with. We want to grow and flourish to be our best selves. So like any plant, choose a spot where it can grow and fit beautifully at maturity. If you wish to shape the tree a little bit here and there, you can cut back each desired branch to the last season's growth after the flowering. And remove crossing and rubbing branches. Is it as simple as that, right? Just let them be and let them grow. 

Mary Stone  07:56

If you notice the color shift of flowers, the suckers below the graft are taking over the plant. You can't hate the rootstock for wanting to take over the forced graft. We all want to be who we are at our core - in our roots. Though seeing the magic of hybrids and grafted trees is lovely. It's art! Witch Hazels are also grown as espalier specimens, which is the art or process of training a plant to grow on a flat plane such as a wall trellis or fence. So consider them as artwork and enjoy them from time to time. But by and large, let things grow as they're intended to be. Don't overly prune them. Don't make suckers out of those trees. (giggle) Let them be what they are intended to be in our natural world. Just as you have your life purpose, what you're intended here to be. And that is a shining light of color of love to spread around the world and amongst your neighbors and amongst your friends and family.

Mary Stone  08:58

 So thanks so much for coming by. I always enjoy our time together, and I hope you have as well. And if so, please share the podcast with a friend or two. So more can join us in learning and growing in the garden of life. It means so much. Have a great day. 

Mary Stone  09:14

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.