Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Winter Hazel Corylopsis spicata blooming but not for long



Our winter hazel is in full flower now. It's in the same family as the witch hazel Hamamelidaceae and a native to E. Asia. The pendant flowers are small but numerous and quite unusual. Sort of like flowers of a shrimp plant in form with its stacked bracts and quite apparent because it is borne on bare branches. The leaves are also quite unusual with deeply lined veins much like the leaves of the hornbeam tree, and especially noticeable on newly developing leaves.

This is quite a stunning shrub especially in a spot where nothing else is flowering. My wife hated the spreading habit and severely cut it back which made if flower more and she now loves the flowers and the look of the plant so much so that it has become one of her favorites.

5 Comments:

Blogger kate said...

These flowers are really unusual. I like the colour since it is more of a softer yellow. It is very striking!

We are still freezing here - one of these days, maybe there will be some colour in my garden!

9:03 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Kate, yes the color is definitely a paler shade of yellow and is not a bright as forsythia but it makes up for its less eyecatching color by the unusual shape of the blossoms.

Thankfully the weathermen were wrong. The nights have been cool but not the mid 20's they predicted. I looked at the thermometer at 7 this morning and it read 33 degrees F. But all the magnolia flowers look droopy so we may have seen the last of those. I hope some warm weather will come your way soon. I see that people who live near the Great Lakes are being socked by another round of lakes effect snow. I hope you have escaped the snow.

9:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is quite pretty. We don't have winter or witch hazel in Austin, so far as I know. I also love your magnolia photos in your earlier post. Lovely!

1:31 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

This is beautiful! I see your comparison to the shrimp plant, but I had first seen an exotic yellow bird with very ruffly tail feathers. :)

12:14 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Pam, I guess we'll have to admire the plants we can't grow on each other's blogs. I wish I could grow so many things you are able to but dems the breaks. Thanks for your nice comment.

Kim, I think I like your description better. Makes mine sound so prosaicly descriptive. A poet I'll never be. Thanks for stopping by.

3:09 PM  

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