Hamamelis virginiana-Witch hazel

Description

Tall multi-stemmed understory shrub of deciduous forests. I have one growing in my front yard that started its life in shade, but is now in full sun for most of the day. It is doing okay, but its leaves look stressed much of the time now. Interestingly, it now seems to set seed every year. Plants growing in the deep shade only set seed once every 3 to 5 years. Leaves have been used for centuries as a powerful astringent for toning the skin and taking care of ailments in more discrete places. Crepe paper like pastel yellow flowers come in late fall, well after every other shrub has finished fruiting, much less flowering. This plant has a long, bizarre, and unique seed development period; flowers are pollinated in the fall by moths, after fertilization, embryo development goes dormant throughout the winter and resumes at some point in the spring. Seeds mature in the fall of the proceeding year. The seeds will then take two years to germinate after going through a cold-warm-cold-warm cycle. Wow. Why? How? How did the flowering of this plant get set back so far into the season? We can only speculate.

18″-24″ high, 3 gallon pot size; $60 each