![]() The open, statuesque shrubs perform beautifully in Northern Virginia.Īnd well they should. Next time you scan catalogs looking for the perfect plant to add to the garden, think of witch hazels. But this promising young naturalist left his mark through his descriptions and drawings that live on in the botanical works of Ray, Plukenet and Gronovius. Unfortunately, before he could begin his natural history of Virginia, Banister’s career was cut short when he was accidentally and fatally shot while exploring along the Roanoke River in 1692. Banister also corresponded with, and sent drawings to, the famous British naturalists Leonard Plukenet and John Ray, giving them valuable insight into the region’s flora. He soon proposed a natural history of Virginia that would catalog the region’s flora and fauna. Banister was an enthusiastic student of nature and sent to England hundreds of drawings and descriptions as well as seeds. In dispatching Banister to Virginia, Compton, who was a keen plantsman himself, ensured that he would have a steady supply of American plants and seeds for his large, 14.5-hectare garden while also meeting his responsibility to provide the colonists with a minister. An unsung hero of early American botany, the Reverend John Banister, discovered the common witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana.īanister was sent to the British colony of Virginia by Reverend Bishop Henry Compton in 1678. The state of Virginia has a special connection to the witch hazel. About 100 of the specimens are cultivars of the well-known Asian hybrid, H. There are now selections from all the Hamamelis species, including the native eastern witch hazel, H. Green Spring’s collection started with a gift of six witch hazels from the Chapel Square Garden Club in Annandale. The Dawes Arboretum and the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories and Arboretum also have collections. Leaves turn a unique, apricot yellow in fall. With their fragrant, golden yellow flowers, witch hazels (Hamamelis spp.) add a spark of life to otherwise drab. Green Spring Gardens' Witch Hazel Collection is one of three PCN collections focused on Hamamelis. Large shrub or small tree with a multi-stemmed, vase-shaped habit. The Best Conditions for a Witch Hazel Plant. ![]() Another four dozen plants are scattered throughout other gardens at Green Spring, including the Virginia Native Plant Garden. The second largest collection is in the Spring House Overlook, with more than two dozen plants. Nearly 150 of those plants are found in the Entrance Garden and the Overflow Parking Lot Garden. Green Spring Gardens has more than 215 Hamamelis plants and 110 different types or unique taxa. Member gardens make germplasm available for studies, evaluation, breeding and research. PCN, a part of the American Public Gardens Association, is a network of botanical gardens and arboreta that coordinate preservation of germplasm, the living tissue from which a plant can grow, i.e. Ozark witch-hazel is a shrub, often sending up sprouts from the base, or (less commonly) a small tree (especially in cultivation). The Hamamelis, or Witch Hazels, of Green Spring Gardens became an official Plant Collections Network (PCN)collection in 2006. ![]()
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