{"id":11381,"date":"2019-03-20T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-03-21T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=11381"},"modified":"2019-03-20T18:20:50","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T22:20:50","slug":"spike-winterhazels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2019\/03\/20\/spike-winterhazels\/","title":{"rendered":"Spike Winterhazels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spike winterhazel<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Winterhazels (Corylopsis spp.<\/em>), native to China and Japan, is a\nwonderful genus comprised of winter flowering shrubs of varying heights and\nwidths (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8). Few U.S. gardeners know of them. Their\nbright yellow flowers are a lot bigger and showier than the witchhazels (Hamamelis\nspp.<\/em>) which are close botanical relatives. In my early March garden the\nwinterhazels start blooming as the witchhazels are finishing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winterhazels occupy partially shaded shrub borders or woodland areas. Eight\nspecies, sometimes more, are available from on-line nurseries. Spike\nwinterhazel (C. spicata<\/em>) and buttercup winterhazel (C. pauciflora<\/em>)\nare low spreading forms that fit into smaller urban and suburban gardens. Their\nslightly fragrant flowers are lemony yellow with red-purple anthers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spike winterhazel grows to 4-8 feet tall and to 6-10 feet wide. Individual flowers, only 3\/8 inches long, comprise small drooping clusters (racemes to 2 inches long); clusters hold 6-12 flowers. After bloom, 4-inch long circular (ovate to obovate) leaves unfold with a bronze-purple tint; within 2-3 weeks leaves take on a bluish-green color. Tiny hairs on the leaf surface give the leaves a dusty look by late summer. Fall leaf color is an yellowish-green. Fall seed capsules swell and hold two small seeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winterhazels prefer a compost-rich, well-drained, acidic soil in full sun to part shade. They tolerate most garden soils except heavy clays. Plants favor shading from direct afternoon sun in southerly climate zones 7-8 as well as shelter from high winds. Flower buds\/flowers are susceptible to cold injury if winter temperatures are severe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After flowering or by late spring, prune winterhazels as needed to hold shrubs in check. Feed with 10-10-10 or equivalent granular fertilizer. No serious insect or disease problems trouble these low maintenance shrubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significant cultivar<\/strong>: With its circular golden foliage, C. spicata<\/em> ‘Aurea’ is an attention grabber from March through October.  New spring foliage opens rosy-pink, turns golden yellow, and to bluish green by early summer. Nodding racemes of small, bell-shaped pale yellow flowers open in the late days of winter and last 2-3 weeks. Frigid nights in the mid- 20\u2019s rarely trouble the blooms. Flower fragrance does not overwhelm.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Closeup of flowers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Winterhazels (Corylopsis spp.), native to China and Japan, is a wonderful genus comprised of winter flowering shrubs of varying heights and widths (USDA hardiness zones 5 to 8). Few U.S. gardeners know of them. Their bright yellow flowers are a lot bigger and showier than the witchhazels (Hamamelis spp.) which are close botanical relatives. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,1319,299,1498,645,806,665,774,853,551,843,1060,601,729,630,705,646,7,1,113,708,455,1146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11381"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11388,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11381\/revisions\/11388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}