In late February, the first show of color I expected was the blossoming Witch Hazel. Thus it was a surprise upon visiting the Terrace to see, at the base of one pillar of the arbor, a small leafless shrub decorated with bright yellow flowers.
The shrub looked at first blush to be perhaps a very early blooming Forsythia.
These flowers have 5 or 6 petals, not the four found with Forsythia. In identification sources the closest match was Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum), an ornamental that blooms in February in this region. There is no reference to this species in any of the earlier accounts on this web site or that of the Barton Arboretum.
As the species name nudiflorum suggests, the flowers emerge prior to the leaves (right). The beautiful name Jasmine originates from the French, through Arabic and to the original Persian yasmin, a perfume of antiquity. This particular Jasmine species originates in China and Tibet. It was introduced into England as a single vegetative plant and is not known to bear seed.
Three days later, in the unusually warm late February weather, the Witch Hazel hybrid Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ had burst into bloom.
Note: To enlarge an image and reveal more detail, please click the image and then the magnifier 🔍 symbol.
Text and photographs by Fred Kahan