![]() You’ll also need to learn foraging ethics before you harvest any plants from the wild. If you plan to forage any of this herb, you’ll need to seek out trustworthy identification tips. Please note that this article is an introduction to witch hazel. This is wonderful news for the gardener as it opens up more options for where to plant it in your landscape! The sun really helped it maximize its full potential, and it helped me realize that witch hazel is one of those plants that can live in part shade or sun. The biggest witch hazel tree I have ever seen was living on the wood’s margin, along a creek bank. ), and sourwood ( Oxydendrum arboreum) trees, and among wild yam vines ( Dioscorea villosa), Christmas ferns ( Polystichum acrostichoides), and wild cucumber ( Medeola virginiana). The ones in our woods (in the southern Appalachians) grow near the stream, underneath American beech ( Fagus grandifolia), tulip magnolia ( Liriodendron tulipifera), oak ( Quercus spp. Witch hazel is found naturally in woodland habitats or on forest edges. For more info on the botanical uniqueness and folklore of witch hazel, check out our Witch Hazel Hub. The witch hazel leaf is broad and oval, with wavy margins and an uneven base and it turns yellow in autumn, right before the flower appears. How stunning it is to walk through the woods and see golden flowers hanging from branches when most other plants have gone to sleep for the winter! Its central stems are gray, patchy, and leggy, and leaf out in spring with luscious growth. It is one of those rare plants that flowers in cold weather. Witch hazel is a very humble-looking deciduous shrub or small tree-until it flowers. ![]() But imagine growing your own witch hazel plant ( Hamamelis virginiana, Hamamelidaceae) in your medicine garden, and then creating clever concoctions to lovingly administer to your teenager for acne, postpartum friend for hemorrhoids, or to soothe someone’s discomfort with eczema. The homegrown benefits of witch hazel are easy to overlook as an herbalist, as witch hazel is not traditionally something you think of planting in the garden or making medicine with for your apothecary-drugstore brands are what most people associate with witch hazel. ![]()
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