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Corylopsis sinensis var. calvescens

 
Corylopsis sinensis var. calvescens
Chinese winterhazel
Corylopsis sinensis var. calvescens
Leaves appear just as the flowers are fading

Common name Chinese winterhazel
Family hamamelidaceae
Life cycle shrub (Z6-8)
Flowers yellow (early spring)
Size 10'
Light sun-part shade
Cultural notes rich, medium-moist soil
Seed ripensmid-June

Three years after starting this winterhazel from seed, I had a single surviving plant, and not much hope it would survive, let alone thrive, on the hillside behind our waterfall, which hardly meets its requirement of moist soil throughout summer. But that year, in late March, the lone survivor bloomed – not exactly impressively, but enough to make me pay attention in the years that followed. After all, not much else is lighting up the garden so early in spring. And amazingly, it is still alive, even though it must fight for sunlight in the thicket of aggressive perennials and weedy thugs growing around it. Somehow, the bloom has gotten better every year. I can see how, planted in a proper location, this would be a magnificent specimen. Ours assumes a perpetually downcast look, barely more than a couple sprawling branches – but I enjoy it every year. I'm afraid that if I transplant it to a more suitable location, it would die out of spite...

Chinese winterhazel
Corylopsis sinensis var. calvescens
Spent bloom
Chinese winterhazel
Buds for next spring's flowers forming in November

We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston.

One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog

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Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from HPS/MAG exchange. Pot set outside mid-February, seedlings emerged in May


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