Witch Hazel Bushes

Unique Late Bloomers - Witch Hazel at Nature Hills

Start your search for Witch Hazel shrubs here at Nature Hills Nursery! These late-blooming shrubs support beneficial pollinators and add interest to your landscape when very few other plants are flowering!

Blooming from October through December, Witch Hazel is sure to be the star of your garden next winter!

Plant these unique deciduous shrubs, not just for their unusual season of blooms starting in late winter through early spring, but also for their medicinal properties! You'll be pleased to learn how easy it is to grow these shrubs in your garden!

Get Acquainted With Witch Hazel

Witch Hazel is a unique plant! The flowers, ripe fruits, and next year's leaf buds are all present simultaneously! Cold tolerant and persistent despite sub-freezing temperatures! Nicknamed Winterbloom because of its late fall or winter bloom period!

The flowers resemble delicate pompoms - often bright yellow with a red center - turning the entire shrub into a festive ticker-tape parade! These flowers not only offer some winter interest but also have an intoxicating citrus scent that is both surprising and pleasant.

These low-maintenance, large shrubs are important flowering plants for Pollinators and color when you need them most!

The fruits of Witch Hazel are small dry capsules that can release seeds up to 30 feet! Many of the seeds do not survive predation by birds and environmental stress, so there is little concern with having Witch Hazel take over your landscapes.

The pleated, wavy scalloped edges of the green leaves add their own lovely texture all growing season. The textured leaves with prominent veining add to the visual appeal, especially when they develop a golden color in the fall!

Using Witch Hazels In The Landscape

Unique landscape workhorses that are ideal for screening, as backdrops, and garden structure! Use Witch Hazel as a backdrop to hide a shed or utility area.

You can either allow them to grow into dense, shrubby bushes, or train them into a single or multi-stemmed tree form.

The slightly suckering and thicket-forming shrubs make them ideal for hedges and windbreaks as they propagate new plants over time.

Tree form specimens are wonderful accents and focal points throughout the sun garden!

Medicinal Witch Hazel Shrubs!

Sometimes spelled as one word Witchhazel, Witch Hazels have long been hailed as a natural topical remedy. You may be familiar with Witch Hazel extract for skin care, used to soothe red, irritated skin and scalp, stings, bites, scratches, enlarged pores, inflamed tissues, sores, swelling, and minor skin irritation.

The bark and roots are preferred because they have the highest concentration of tannins; one of the chemical compounds that reduce inflammation and may contain antibacterial applications.

Grow a patch of Witch Hazel for your family's needs and feel like you are growing a medicine cabinet in your own backyard. It's easy to boil, steam, or distill the bark to create Witch Hazel astringent. Please follow a reputable recipe from a clean source free of pesticides.

Caring For Witch-Hazel Shrubs

Witch Hazels grow well in a variety of USDA Hardiness Zone! For best results, please review the details for the individual cultivar found in the Plant Highlights on every Nature Hills Nursery product page. There is not much that will bother this plant, making it ideal for use in a low-maintenance, easy-to-take care of landscape. 

• Full sun to partial shade - minimum of four hours of direct sunlight to bloom their best
• Witch Hazel grows large, so be sure to have enough room for them
• Best in loamy acidic soils and any kind of well-drained soil type
• New plants need regular watering
• This shrub can be sensitive to drought conditions, so provide supplemental moisture
• Apply a 3-4 inch deep layer of arborist mulch over the entire root system
• Provide annual slow-release Witch Hazel fertilizer to feed your plant

If deer are an issue in your landscape, protecting your young shrubs is essential, but as the shrub matures, it becomes less of an issue.

Pruning Witch Hazel - Tree or Shrub?

With its multi-seasonal beauty, its herbal uses, and its ease of care, Witch Hazel is an essential landscape plant you should consider using. Depending on what you need in your landscape, you can enjoy your Hamamelis as either a fantastic specimen or a screening hedge. Fine-tune your Witch Hazel to make it work for you!

When it comes to management, Witch Hazel is relatively self-sustaining. It may need light pruning to keep it in a manageable shape. Pruning should be done following bloom, so the flower buds will not be damaged. By pruning after bloom, you'll get to enjoy the flowers during the winter months. Witch Hazel is resistant to many pests and diseases and will tolerate light deer browsing.

Engage in customized pruning to create a Witch Hazel tree or Witch Hazel shrub! Keep plants as small trees, either single-stemmed or multi-stemmed, by simply removing the lower limbs to expose more of the trunk.

Open the interior of the canopy for a noteworthy patio tree, or keep them in large Containers on your balcony for many years!

Incredible Medicinal Ornamentals!

Whether you want to grow your Witch Hazel for the beautiful seasonal displays or the health benefits, it's important to know what conditions it prefers for the healthiest plant that will survive for years to come!

Call now to order your own Witch Hazel from Nature Hills by calling (402) 934-8116 today!