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Hamamelis virginiana

Growing Information

Plant Type: Shrub
Sunlight: Sun, part shade, shade
Soils: Average, wet
Bloom Time: Yellow flowers in late October, November, December
Size: 6-15 feet in height; 6-15 foot spread

Witch Hazel works well as a border plant, understory companion or specimen. Its frilly flowers bloom as leaves are dropping in the fall with golden foliage displays. The flowers are aromatic, and the fruit ejects its seeds as far as 30 feet from the parent tree. A Chinese hybrid flowers the wrong time of year, so don’t be fooled – make sure you seek out the straight native species.

Garden Companions

American Holly (Ilex opaca), Maple-leaved viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium), Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), Shadbush (Amelanchier canadensis), Pasture Rose (Rosa Carolina), Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), American Hazelnut (Corylus americana)

Nature Benefits

• Birds eat the fruit and seed.
• Caterpillar host to caterpillars of these moths: Bethune’s Pinion, Drexel’s Datana.

Native Habitat

Occurs in floodplains, forests, swamps.

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Photos