How to grow witch hazel

Choosing a witch hazel

There is a range of species and cultivars of witch hazel so choose the colour, fragrance and ultimate size and spread most suitable for your garden. Look out for cultivars which performed well in RHS trials and have been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM).

Buying witch hazel

• Witch hazels are widely sold in garden centres as container-grown plants
• Look for plants with a number of well-placed branches, which are evenly distributed to form a vase shape
• Avoid any plants showing signs of stress, damage or disease
• You can use the RHS Find a Plant tool to find stockists

RHS guide to buying trees and shrubs

RHS guide to choosing healthy plants

Where to plant witch hazels

Ideally choose an open, sunny position in the garden. Although witch hazels will tolerate partial shade, they become straggly in very shady sites.

Witch hazels need free-draining soil that doesn’t dry out in summer (water if needed). A light soil with plenty of organic matter is best.

They will grow on heavier clay soils that are also improved by mulching

Mulch is a layer of material, at least 5cm (2in) thick, applied to the soil surface in late autumn to late winter (Nov-Feb). It is used to provide frost protection, improve plant growth by adding nutrients or increasing organic matter content, reducing water loss from the soil, for decorative purposes and suppressing weeds. Examples include well-rotted garden compost and manure, chipped bark, gravel, grit and slate chippings. with organic matter, such as well-rotted garden compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own. or manure, and ensuring good drainage by planting on a slight mound, about 25-30cm (10in-1ft) high and 1m (3½ft) in diameter.

Acid to neutral soil

The acidity/alkalinity of soil is measured on a pH scale, which runs from 0 to 14. Soil classed as neutral has a pH between 6.5-7.0, even though a pH below 7 is still technically acid, because the widest choice of plants grow in this range. You can easily check your soil pH with a simple testing kit, widely available in garden centres or online. Many plants thrive in neutral soil, except those than need notably acid or alkaline conditions. with a pH

This describes how acid or alkaline soil is, and is expressed as a number between 0 and 14. Soil with a pH of 7 is neutral, an acid soil has a lower value, and an alkaline soil has a higher one. Most plants grow best in soil that’s within a specific pH range, so it’s useful to know your soil’s pH. Testing kits are easy to use and widely available in garden centres and online. of between 4.5 and 6.5 is ideal. Witch hazels can tolerate deep soils over chalk where plenty of added organic matter has been used as a mulch

Mulch is a layer of material, at least 5cm (2in) thick, applied to the soil surface in late autumn to late winter (Nov-Feb). It is used to provide frost protection, improve plant growth by adding nutrients or increasing organic matter content, reducing water loss from the soil, for decorative purposes and suppressing weeds. Examples include well-rotted garden compost and manure, chipped bark, gravel, grit and slate chippings. , but they won’t tolerate shallow chalky soil.

How to plant witch hazels

Witch hazels are best planted between October and April, but avoid planting if the ground is frozen or waterlogged

Describes soil or potting compost that is saturated with water. The water displaces air from the spaces between soil particles and plant roots can literally drown, unless they are adapted to growing in waterlogged conditions. Waterlogging is common on poorly drained soil or when heavy soil is compacted. . You can plant container grown witch hazels at any time, but if they are planted during spring and summer they will need regular, careful watering to keep the soil moist.

Most witch hazel cultivars are grafted onto Hamamelis virginiana rootstock. Sometimes the rootstock can produce suckers (shoots) – there is more information about what to do about suckers in the ‘dealing with suckers’ section below.

To minimise problems from suckering, do not bury the graft union (visible as a bulbous part of the stem near to ground level) and avoid planting too deeply by just burying the uppermost roots with soil.

RHS guide to planting trees and shrubs

RHS guide to trees and shrubs establishment problems

Watering

Water your young witch hazels regularly until they are fully established (often this is two to three years) and continue to water mature plants during dry periods. Lack of moisture in winter can cause flowers to drop in autumn/winter.

RHS guide to watering

Feeding

Witch hazels don’t need regular feeding, but it will boost growth of young plants if you apply a top dressing of a general balanced fertiliser, such as a handful per sq m/yd of Growmore or Fish, Blood and Bone, in late winter or early spring.

RHS guide to feeding plants

Deadheading

There is no need to deadhead

Deadheading is the process of removing spent flowers from plants to encourage more blooms and prevent seed production. This helps to redirect the plant's energy into producing more flowers rather than producing seeds. witch hazels.

Witch hazel don’t need regular pruning – it’s best to let them grow freely. Simply remove any dead, damaged, congested, crossing or weak shoots.

Restricting size

If you need to restrict the size of your witch hazel, the following steps will help.

• After flowering, cut back the previous season’s growth to two leaf buds
  A bud is a small, undeveloped shoot that contains the potential for new growth. Buds are typically found on stems, where they can be apical (found at the tip) or axillary (found between leaf axils) and may develop into leaves, shoots or flowers. from the main stem
• Leaf buds are longer and narrower than the more rounded flower buds, so try not to remove the flower buds in the process
• This pruning will encourage new extension growth and also promote flower bud
  A bud is a small, undeveloped shoot that contains the potential for new growth. Buds are typically found on stems, where they can be apical (found at the tip) or axillary (found between leaf axils) and may develop into leaves, shoots or flowers. formation at the base of the new shoots

Reducing the size of a large shrub

If you have a mature plant that has outgrown its allotted space, you can remove some old branches by cutting back to a healthy new shoot. It’s best to stage this pruning over two or three years. Unfortunately the plant may recover slowly and the rootstock can produce lots of suckers (shoots).

Dealing with suckers

Witch hazels are usually grafted onto the Hamamelis virginiana rootstock, which may send up suckers (shoots) from, or below, ground level. Suckers can be recognised as they tend to hold on to their leaves longer in autumn. If you spot any suckers, trace them back to their point of origin and cut them off as cleanly and as close to the main stem as you can. Any stumps left behind usually shoot again, so cutting them off carefully in the first place can save time in the future.

Fan-training witch hazels

You can also fan-train a witch hazel. To do this:

• Attach horizontally-placed wires to a wall or fence, in layers roughly 30cm (1ft) apart
• You want to create a Y-shape with the stems to begin with – a central stem at the base with two good stems tied in, one on either side.
• To make this a neat Y-shape, neatly position two canes either side behind the branches to form the two arms of the Y. Now tie in a branch to each cane
  A cane is a slender, straight, length of woody plant material, usually bamboo. Canes are primarily used as plant supports. The fruiting stems of blackberries, raspberries and hybrid berries (such as loganberries and tayberries) are also known as canes, so these crops are often referred to as cane fruit. . Cut out the other stems, including the central stem, to make the Y-shape.
• As they grow, leave the best-placed shoots to extend the framework of branches upwards and sideways. However, cut very strong side-shoots and badly placed branches back to two leaf buds from the main branch after flowering each year. This will enhance and keep the shape well balanced.

RHS guide to light pruning of trees and shrubs

Grafting

Commercially, most witch hazels are grafted or budded onto Hamamelis virginiana rootstocks, which is why they are quite pricey to buy. The rootstocks and species plants, such as Hamamelis mollis, are raised from seed (see below). When the seedling rootstocks are large enough, the cultivar

Gardeners often use the word variety when referring to a specific plant, but the correct botanical term is 'cultivar'. Whichever word you use, it means a distinctive plant or plants, given a specific cultivar name and usually bred to enhance certain characteristics, such as flower or fruit size, colour, flavour or fragrance, plant size, hardiness, disease resistance, etc. Additionally, it is worth knowing that, botanically, variety has another meaning - it refers to a naturally-occurring distinct plant that only has slight differences in its looks. For example, Malva alcea var. fastigiata differs from typical plants by having an upright habit. is grafted on.

You can try grafting

This involves joining the roots of one plant to the stem of another related plant, so they fuse together to form one plant. There are various methods, all requiring great skill. Grafting is mainly carried out by commercial growers to combine one plant’s qualities of flowering or fruiting (the upper section or scion) with the vigour or resilience of the other (the roots or rootstock). Fruit trees are often grafted, along with a few ornamental shrubs and trees, and in recent years grafted vegetable plants (mainly tomatoes, but also chillies, cucumbers, aubergines, etc) have become available. at home. It’s tricky but, if successful, grafted plants could can flower in four to five years.

RHS guide to grafting

Seed

This works well for species, but not cultivars as they don’t come true from seed – you’ll get something new and different.

To raise plants from seed place ripe seed capsules in a covered tray, they will explode to release seeds. Sow the seeds fresh and overwinter them in a cold frame

Cold frames are glaze box-like structures made from brick or wood with a  hinged or removable, glazed, sloping lid. Useful to protect plants from cold weather over winter or acclimatise (harden off) young plants in spring and provide extra warmth for tender crops in summer. to germinate in the following spring.

RHS guide to growing trees and shrubs from seed

Cuttings

Cuttings

A method of growing new plants from parts of an existing plant, such as sections of root, stem, leaf or bud. When prepared correctly and planted in the right conditions, they can produce roots and eventually become independent plants. There is a wide range of different methods for taking cuttings, depending on the plant and time of year. of witch hazel are not easy to root or keep alive. Take softwood cuttings

Softwood cuttings are taken from spring to early summer (Apr-Jun), using material from the soft and flexible young shoot tips from this seasons growth, which root readily. Use for hardy and tender perennials, deciduous shrubs, climbers and some trees. in mid-spring using very free-draining cuttings compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own. , such as 40 percent peat-free multi-purpose compost, 30 percent grit and 30 percent composted bark

Bark is the outermost layer of woody plants (trees, shrubs and woody climbers). It is several cells thick and provides protection against physical damage, disease and environmental stresses. Bark comes in a wide variety of colours and patterns, and these can help gardeners when identifying plants. The fissures and crevices of bark on older plants also creates valuable habitat for many garden creatures as well as lichens and small plants. .

• Cover with a clear polythene tent or provide mist-bench conditions to increase humidity
  The concentration of water vapour in the atmosphere. This affects the rate at which plants transpire (lose water from their leaf pores), which in turn affects how much water their roots absorb from the soil. If air humidity is low, plants transpire quickly and become at risk of wilting if water is lost from the leaves faster than it can be absorbed by the roots. Different plants require different levels of humidity to thrive. Many tropical houseplants need high humidity and are best grown in a steamy bathroom, misted regularly or placed on a saucer of damp pebbles. In a greenhouse, humidity can be raised in hot weather by damping down (wetting) the floor or overhead misting. around the cuttings
• Provide bottom heat of 20°C (68°F), such as in a heated propagator
  A heated propagator is a portable heated structure with a vented lid and adjustable, constant, thermostatic temperature control. It provides a warm, humid environment to help seeds germinate and cuttings to root quickly.
• Rooting takes eight to ten weeks
• Keep them in the cuttings compost over their first winter and don’t pot up in potting compost until the following spring

Layering

Another way to increase your stock is to try layering your existing plants. It takes a couple of years, but is very easy to try.

RHS guide to layering

Witch hazels are usually relatively trouble free but look out for:

• The root diseases phytophthora root rot and honey fungus
• Rabbits and deer may be a problem, especially in rural areas.
• Vine weevil larvae can be troublesome for witch hazels in containers
• Powdery mildew on leaves