Corylopsis glabra

Common name: Fragrant winter hazel
Plant type: Deciduous flowering shrub
Flower color: Pale yellow
Bloom period: Late winter-early spring
Fragrance: Sweet
Height: 8-15'
Hardiness: USDA Zones 5a-9
Light needs: Full sun to light shade
Moisture needs: Average
Seasonal character: Very early bloom; good structure

As I'm a sucker for the witchhazel family in particular, and fragrant precocious bloomers in general, it's a foregone conclusion that I was bound to tell you about fragrant winterhazel, or corylopsis (in this case, the generic Latin is actually shorter!). This underplanted shrub deserves a special place in your garden.

Corylopsis will take many years to reach even 8 feet in height in the northern parts of its range, and even in the South, it's not what you'd call a fast-growing plant. Needless to say, then, this is a shrub that needs little to no pruning. Corylopsis' natural form is especially graceful, much more willowy than that of its cousins the witchhazels. It has delicately zigzagged stems ornamented with fat winter buds which give it subtle but significant structural beauty in winter.

Corylopsis' buds are fat because, rather than a single blossom, they contain pendant strands of flowers. Although these resemble weeping racemes--or flower spikes--botanically speaking, they're real stems, which later go on to develop leaves. That's why corylopsis has a curiously overlapping branch structure, resembling an informal and graceful lattice.
The blossoms are the most delicate pale acid yellow, the perfect complement to pinks and lavender pinks. Their color makes them the perfect companion to the precocious and rugged Rhododendron mucronulatum. They open anytime from late February to April, depending on your zone and the microclimate you've provided.

The structure of the individual flowers resembles a tiny, multilayered bell, with a fine spray of red-tipped stamens protruding like a clapper beyond the bottom of the blossom. Looking at them close-up is like studying refinement itself. The fact that they hang in strands only adds to their charm. In fact, their perfectly pendant form reminds me of that old-fashioned piece of girl's jewelry, the charm bracelet.

Plant corylopsis in humusy, well-drained soil, acidified with a touch of sulfur. Position it against the wall of your home, or against a background of evergreens, both to set off the blossoms to best advantage and to protect them from freezing winds.

During summer, corylopsis is cloaked with slightly toothed, dark green leaves which are free of insect and disease problems. These may turn a warm yellow in autumn before falling to expose the shrub once more in all its winter refinement. Once that happens, it's only a matter of a couple of months until corylopsis is in bloom once more.

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