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Witch Hazel
Witch Hazel (hamanelis) . This is a lovely shrub to fill your garden, it adds colour during the winter months as it flowers between December and February, its blooms are yellow and fragrant. It has red/brown (hazel) coloured leaves that come in after the flowers and turn yellow in Autumn. A plant that is very easy to look after you only have to prune straggles branches on established plants after flowering .
This is one of the shrubs that bears fruit and flowers at the same time. The witch hazels fruit take a year to ripen so it is just coming ripe when it goes back into flower. This is all happening during the winter months while most of the other plants are at rest. As the fruit ripens it can shoot out seeds up to 20 feet away from the tree and you will usually hear the popping of the seed heads during this time.
This slow growing shrub is very hardy so will be fine in the winter months. If you like squirrels this planet has been known to attract them in to your garden.
As well as being a beautiful asset to any garden witch hazel is also very useful as a medicinal. The twigs and bark are used to produce oil of Witch Hazel. This can be used for cleansing the skin and if a child has had a nasty fall it will draw the bruise out and help it heal quicker. The root of the shrub is used to produce a tincture ( medical substance dissolved in alcohol) that is also known to have healing powers.
This is also the shrub chosen for making diving rods used to find water in water witching.
Landscape & Gardening
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