Okay...I confess. It was January in Portland...more precisely on Sauvie Island at Sean Hogan's phantasmagoria called Cistus Design Nursery. There were a dozen or more things blooming in the area: Iris 'Katherine Hodgkin' and Iris unguicularis in full force, Camellia japonica and C. forrestii, Daphne bohlua and D. odora, and time and again I would catch the bewitching fragrance of Sarcococca....But there is something about witch hazels that really captured my imagination.
That's Linda Buley, a grower in the Portland area who produces standards on witch hazels (many selections) as well as other unique plants. She's hawking her wares at Cistus: I wish I had the cash and that she had some wares in Denver: it would be wonderful to have a small, treeform witch hazel in my back yard. As it is, my 'Arnold Promise' is still in tight bud (and hope it got through the -20F of the other night OK)...
So if you live near Portland, shimmy on down to Cistus and pick one of those treasures up!
Lovely post! There is nothing, but nothing, like that sharp, sweet-spicy scent of witch hazel on cold spring air. And Nancy's trees are simply the finest expression of a tree-form witch hazel around. Great that Cistus is carrying them!
ReplyDeleteSo are these on their own roots or grafted?
ReplyDeleteYou can check out more about Nancy at her Website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.treephoria.com
I know she would be happy to tell you details on her Hamamelis if you email her at:
nancy@treephoria.com