Ask at independent garden centers if one gallon plants are going to be offered. Or order liners from forestfarm at Pacifica.

https://www.forestfarm.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?cat=10&mode=grid&q=hamamelis

They are expensive because they are usually grafted, and because they are "connoisseur" plants that you're probably never going to spot at Lowe's, HD, or Walmart. Whatever Forestfarm is selling them for is probably the best you're going to do, short of a nursery having a fire sale like the late, only somewhat-lamented Girard Nursery of Ohio.

If rooted cuttings were feasible, they'd be cheaper. ;-)

I would second (or third) ForestFarm for the best selection of hamamelis of any mail order nursery. At $29.95, that doesn't seem like an unreasonable cost, although the plants will be small.

Hey, wow. Look at that! Not sure how I never came across them. The lowest I had seen was $55. Thanks guys!

Lazy S's has just one hybrid, Arnold Promise, plus two natives, H. vernalis and H. virginiana. $13-$25. Quart pots, well grown plants IME.

I don't know where you are, but in my northern zone, often it's a struggle to get FF's plants to a point where I can put them outside since they are so much further along than my local growing conditions.

Good point NHBabs. Almost anything that is "tube" sized that I order from FF, I pot up for one to several years in a larger gallon or so pot. Still though I am glad they offer that size as it lets them offer such a wide variety for reasonable prices.

Any time a body orders from a retailer that is situated multiple zones warmer than their location the growing season is likely to be more advanced there than where the purchaser is located when plants are ordered for spring delivery. Due to so much container stock being produced in California, Texas and other southern states, trucked north this seasonal discrepancy can't be completely avoided by limiting purchases to local garden centers either. The only way to assure that plants are gotten at more or less the same stage of development in spring is to buy stock of local or regional origin - that has been present in the same climate long enough to be on the same schedule.

And has not been overwintered in a shelter that has warmed sufficiently during sunny periods to cause earlier awakening. This last can be hard to avoid with container stock.

Lucky for me, I'm in GA, and I have grow lights if that's what it boils down to. As long as they make it to me alive, I can probably keep them that way. I hope...30 bucks a pop plus shipping isn't pocket change.

A opened a couple of the forestfarm at Pacifica descriptions when first looking and those two kinds weren't that much.

"30 bucks a pop plus shipping isn't pocket change."

I've hardly ever seen them for less, mail order or retail. They just aren't cheap plants. You should do fine w/the ones from FF. They are tough plants, generally speaking.

Glad to hear. They'll live in pots for a year until I can harden them to our climate. I just need to figure out exactly which selections to go with. I'd love to have a variety of color that blooms at the same time.

The Scott Arboretum did a big evaluation of them a few years ago. Google should find the pdf or spreadsheet. I recommend you get fragrant ones as that is one of the main benefits of them. I have Jelena which has a light fragrance...some people say it has none at all but it definitely does. OTOH Rubin has no fragrance. Some though are very strong in that department, I think 'Wisley Supreme' is, but that cultivar is always hard to find.

Chris Lane Witch Hazels book recommends the H. x intermedia forms

'Angelly'

'Aphrodite'

'Arnold Promise'

'Aurora'

'Barmstedt Gold'

'Diane'

'Frederic'

'Gingerbread'

'Glowing Embers'

'Harry'

'Jelena'

'Livia'

'Orange Peel'

'Pallida'

'Ripe Corn'

'Robert'

'Rubin'

'Sunburst'

'Vesna'

and the H. mollis selections

'Imperialis'

'Jermyns Gold'

'Wisley Supreme'.

Of these the ones he describes as having a "strong, sweet" fragrance are

'Angelly'

'Arnold Promise'

'Aurora'

'Pallida'

'Vesna' and the three H. mollis selections.

The Royal Horticultural Society has given its top award to these kinds:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/agm/Award2.asp?User2=T%26S&crit=hamamelis

The other thing to consider is how well they lose their leaves. Some cultivars hang on to dead leaves for much of the winter. Visiting some at an arboretum in your area may help you judge how different cultivars behave in your area.

I rarely see 'Vesna' mentioned and since it's on the list that Embothrium provides, I thought to mention that I've been searching for the 'Vesna' hybrid to no success. It has an upright form which would perfectly fit the limited space in my urban backyard and it's also highly scented. It comes from the same breeding program as 'Jelena', also from the 1950s, and it's highly praised in Europe. It's available in many UK shrub nurseries, recently their Garden Illustrated ranked it as the number #1 shrub, and yet it's nowhere to be found in the US. If anyone comes across it for sale here in North America, please let me know.

Rarefind Nursery has some for more money but also some as low as $35.

It's available in many UK shrub nurseries, recently their Garden Illustrated ranked it as the number #1 shrub, and yet it's nowhere to be found in the US.

Lane writes from Britain. So something like this is to be expected. Nevertheless many others he lists are on the market here.

We have a great many varieties here, indeed. My surprise that we don't have this particular cultivar is only because it seems to be very popular in the UK & Europe and it has many extraordinary traits. I saw it listed on the old website of Fairweather Gardens but unfortunately their mail order closed. Hope some other nursery here picks up on it.

So in fact it has been imported. British references often show and describe plants we don't have in North America. One problem is that most of the population is in the East, instead of out here in the one part of the continent that has a similar climate to that of UK. So plants may be imported to the East, not make it in the conditions there and then be dropped, without ever getting to the Pacific Coast.

On the other hand when I went to Britain nursery people I talked to there thought we in "America" had all the good stuff. One batch of a rare tree or shrub I asked about (don't remember what it was) at one place turned out to have been sent there from Oregon.

I love reading some of the British gardening authors (Sackville-West or Thomas, among others) and my biggest rookie mistake was to do the planting inspired by what worked for them. A Zone 5 reality check hit me and our plants the first winter! :-) This hamamelis cultivar I've been searching for is hardy to zone 5 though, so I think it should work well for my area.