James Burghardt
Family
Hamamelidaceae
Botanical Name
Hamamelis x intermedia 'Angelly'
Plant Common Name
Angelly Witchhazel, Showy Witchhazel
Special Notice
This entry has yet to be reviewed and approved by L2G editors.
General Description
This late winter blooming hybrid shrub is certainly the most widely celebrated.
In the last dreary days of winter its branches become dotted with fragrant, colorful, spidery flowers. The vase-shaped shrub blends and amplifies the great ornamental characteristics of its two parents, Chinese witchhazel (Hamamelis mollis) and Japanese witchhazel (H. japonica).
Witchhazel has dull dark green leaves that are broadly oval with wavy edges and short tips. The new leaves are glossier on top and paler and slightly fuzzy beneath. In autumn they turn shades of yellow or gold, with occasional deep orange or red tones. The bark is smooth and gray-brown, but the smaller twigs, from which the flowers arise, are lighter in color. In late winter and early spring, golden-yellow, bronze-orange or deep red flowers appear. These have four long, thin and crinkly petals. They are boldly fragrant, both sweet and spicy, and may last for a month.
Plant hybrid witchhazel in full to partial sun and organic-rich, acid or neutral soil with even moisture and good drainage. Simply put: the more sun, the grander the flower show. Its growth is considerably slower in drier soils and hot locations.
This shrub is a wonderful specimen plant for open landscapes, foundations, mixed borders or public landscapes – from parks and campuses to commercial courtyard and entrance gardens. It looks especially lovely when low groundcovers and early spring bulbs blanket the soil under the branches.
Many outstanding cultivars have been developed, and most are grafted onto the rootstocks of hardier and more vigorous American witchhazels (H. vernalis or H. virginiana). So, suckering stems that arise from below the graft union should be pruned off.
