I took this photo yesterday on my walk. It's witch hazel. Witch hazel blossoms late, really late. The plants here are the wild native variety. I can't see witch hazel in bloom without thinking of a wonderful trip I took with Amy. We went to Central Park in 2005 to see Christo's "The Gates". It was interesting to walk around inside an art installation. Christo said the gates were in contrast to the stark reality of winter in the park with no color.
This picture was taken in 2005. Christo's gates are in the background. Amy and I were delighted to find witch hazel in bloom in the Shakespere garden. I don't know if Christo would approve, but we were thrilled. The blooms on that witch hazel were not yellow, but orange, the same color as "The Gates". Curious,I looked for an orange witch hazel and found Hamamelis x intermedia "Jelena". Just imagine, it flowers in January or February. It also says zone 5 and I'm really should stick with zone 4. Still there's no harm is looking for it is there?
5 comments:
It is so beautiful! I have two in my garden, they are tiny. I hope they grow like these some day. What was the smell like?
Not being willing to go off the path and get arrested, we didn't get to smell the aroma. Sorry. Where did you get yours ?
Witch hazel has such amazing, tattered little blooms -- it seems appropriately named. :)
I had to travel to a nursery in NC off from I40 called We Du Natives. They have a website and this was how I found the witch hazels. I really didn't go out of my way, my in laws live very near the nursery. A super nice place with the owner living on site and knowing quite a bit. One of mine is a fall bloomer, the other an early spring bloomer. The fall bloomer is not doing well. We'll see. The other is growing great. Thanks for asking. I smelled one and mine kind of smelled like honeysuckle. But I had to get close. They say the smell is strong. Gee, didn't mean to write a book.
Fantastic little trees! They are lovely right now in my garden! Also I missed Christo's The Gates because of a huge snow storm! The photos looked like it was a great happening!
gail
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