They are in full bloom here as well. My niece has one in her garden that blooms deep red and is almost always in bloom at Christmas! She inherited it with the garden but I am assuming it is the vernalis cultivar known as 'Christmas Cheer'.

There are several Hamamelis species with slightly different bloom times. Some would be harder to find no doubt. This is Hamamelis x intermedia 'Diane' in another garden.

A close-up.

I have deliberately planted my Hamamelis where it will have a green backdrop when blooming so the blooms stand out more.

Thanks for sharing yours since we still have at least a month and likely more before we see any blooms.

Here are my two plus one from the airport in Manchester, NH from previous years. Vernalis is much happier than H. x intermedia here in central NH.

Diane

vernalis

NHBabs my biggest concern in siting them was maximum sunlight which I only have in limited supply. I was looking at one recent planting this week thinking I wanted it there more than the sun available for it. That tree above may lose some limbs. The DOT will like that.

A bonus for me is several are caught in the last low light of the day. That can light them up like turning on a switch. This is 'Arnold's Promise' as seen from my front porch and he is still a youngster.

Nice lighting effect! And from that perspective, it does have the dark evergreens behind it that give such good contrast.

A new client I picked up a full year ago now bought a house and garden originally planted in the early 90's by two avid British gardener doctors. It is more an arboreta and collection of unusual trees, shrubs and conifers than a typical flower garden or landscape. I am slowly identifying many plants I have never seen before in these parts. Many signs point to this British couple being connected to the botanical garden circuit. There is a 'you had to be connected' Korean Sweetheart tree, Euscaphis japonica and twenty five foot tall cold hardy camellias in the garden. We do not grow many camellias in the mountains of WNC.

One large multi-trunked tree kept saying Witch Hazel to me, but is was far too big and has cool exfoliating bark. Today I saw it in early bloom for the very first time. Witch Hazel time. I think it is Persian Ironwood, Parrotia persica which is another genus in the Hamamelidaceae family. Apparently it is the stamens that will be expanding - by how much?

Has anyone grown this tree and have any experience with it?

Love those witchhazels!! Thanks for posting. While not in bloom, this is a fairly large straight species, Hamamelis vernalis, that we installed on a project in 2017.

On your Parrotia question...... My experience is limited but I do have one in my yard (northern Illinois) that I planted back in 2006 and it's now about 18'-20'. I have a couple of others on a downtown Chicago project that also went in back in '06. All are thriving. The foliage could easily be confused with witchhazel on younger trees. The bark didn't start exfoliating on my Parrotia until a couple of years ago. Flowering is late March or early April here, but the flowers have not been anything near the flowers you show in the photo above. I'll try to grab a pic of the bark this weekend and post in this thread.

From not much distance the flowers on this Parrotia can't be described as showy. Up close they are pretty cool. I'll have to watch it and see if they expand further and show more color. We have reached out unsuccessfully so far to the former owners to see what if any gardens records they might have. From what I have seen in this garden, the Parrotia could be a selection sent out for testing. It may be worth propagating if the flowers are showier than the species. It has a lot of nice attributes as a landscape plant.

Here's mine today. We cut them and bring them inside which makes the house smell good.

They are getting an earlier start this year. 'Diane' and 'Jelena' are both breaking bud here on Jan 5th, two to three weeks early I think.

Gorgeous!

I have ignition. Another nice thing about the Witch Hazels, being a cold weather bloom, it is a slow burn period that can last four to six weeks. It gives you a reason to get outside in the garden in the dead of winter.

I've seen the yellow ones here and there around my area in peoples yards. I had no idea there were so many different colors in witch hazels, so very pretty.

Makes me want to grow them out back to prompt us to take winter walks when it's nice out like this.

One day I will be able to cut a fistful of stems to bring inside.

I planted a Parrotia Persica, (Persian Ironwood), four years ago. The flowers are tiny. Neither my witch hazel nor the ironwood are blooming yet. The ironwood has grown dramatically. The supposedly Chinese witch hazel puts on about 4 inches per year. I say supposedly because the blooms are not as fragrant as I expected. On the other hand both of my daphne odoras are covered with buds as are all of the sweet boxes in my garden.

Here's H. mollis 'Pallida' today. Cheery and fragrant, some of the blooms have yet to expand.

Smart putting your fist full of witch hazel - I'm so jealous - in front of a dark evergreen backdrop for picture taking. This would be a fine time of year to do any needed pruning on larger shrubs.

This is H x intermedia 'Arnold's Promise' and 'Jelena' today. 'Diane' is also in bloom. The bloom time for the three is usually more spread out. This year they are earlier and all at once. Winter is about to make an appearance tomorrow.

My Chinese witch hazel is blooming, but I had to stand right next to it to see it. Should I be fertilizing it? It’s been planted here for three years.

This is one at my niece's house nearby. It's a venerable old thing, maybe 25' across. And is almost always in bloom at Christmas. It has been in bloom for at least 6 weeks and is just now starting to go over. When first opened, the blooms are very red but fade to that more orange tone as they age.

The plant was already well established when my niece bought the place so no idea what the cultivar is. It is not Diane, as I have grown that one myself and it doesn't get nearly as large. And this is much redder than Diane when first in bloom and with no retained dead foliage. If I had to guess, I'd say 'Feuerzauber'.

zkathy I don't fertilize mine at all. They will have more bloom some years than others, but never as sparse as your picture. Your Witch Hazel has not set any flower buds which is done at the end of the previous growing season. Look closely at the short stalks along the stem the flowers you have are coming from. The rest of the branches don't have those bloom stalks.

In general, too much nitrogen in the soil can favor leaf growth over flower set. Otherwise I'd research before adding anything. NC cooperative extension is online.

Gardengal that Witch Hazel could pass for an azalea driving by. Wow!

LOL!! I would love to see any azaleas that get that big! The photo is not taken at a very good angle to show the full size of this puppy but he's a big 'un!! If you enlarge it and look in the 11:00 position you can just make out a mature Mahonia x media (also in full bloom) behind it. It's about 10' tall and the witch hazel towers several feet above it.

There are some mighty big azaleas in the South. Where I live a rhododendron can get that size no problem. Just not that color and it takes an exceptional bloom year to hide all the leaves. A deciduous azalea can do that color for sure.