Witch hazel

Value to bees

Nectar

Moderate

Pollen

Moderate

As a honey crop

Not a honey source

Which bees, and why

Worked by honey bees and winter bumblebee queens on mild days. The petal-curling response to frost is a genuine protective mechanism and it happens to synchronise the flower's availability with the weather in which pollinators fly.

Open ribbon-petalled flowers with accessible nectar at the base — usable by short-tongued bees.

Worth knowing

Moderate on both counts and valuable entirely because of when it arrives. In its native range it is pollinated partly by winter-active moths.

Flowering

In flower

December to March (northern hemisphere)

Six to ten weeks in the depths of winter, with individual flowers lasting for weeks because of the curling mechanism.

When nectar flows

Modest nectar with a very strong scent, available whenever the petals have unfurled — which is to say whenever it is mild enough for an insect to be about.

Year-to-year variation

Dependable every year. Never a crop.

Growing it

Conditions

Sun or light shade, neutral to acid moisture-retentive soil. It dislikes chalk and drought.

Size

2.5-4 m.

Native range

A hybrid of Chinese and Japanese species; related species occur in North America.

Suits

Large gardens, Small gardens

• Site it where the winter scent will be caught and where low winter sun will light the flowers from behind.
• Most garden witch hazels are grafted; remove any suckers from below the graft or the rootstock will take over.
• Slow-growing and long-lived. Buy the largest plant you can afford.

What it looks like

A spreading deciduous shrub with hazel-like leaves and clusters of scented flowers on bare wood, each made of four narrow crumpled ribbon-like petals in yellow, orange or coppery red.