any chance you fertilizer it??? .. or have highly amended soil????

often.. plants that do not harden off properly.. in fall ... retain leaves when they arent supposed to .. and plants growing too fast due to fert.. do not harden off properly ....

also./.. if winter comes in with a fury..before a plant hardens off.. also might cause such ...

but all that said... if it happens every year.. perhaps you should shovel prune it.. said pruning solves most problems... lol,

ken

This is a very common issue with any number of cultivars of witch hazel, although 'Arnold's Promise' typically isn't as affected as some others. Has nothing to do with soil conditions or fertilization and unfortunately not much you can do to prevent or otherwise deter the leaf retention. Picking off the leaves is really not that much of an issue......Hamamelis just don't get all that big for such a task to be unmanageable and is certainly worth the effort if you have a nice, well-established specimen.

Gardening DOES require some effort after all.........:-)

I'd knock them off with a jet of water from a hose before they blossomed.
Mike

There's a book on witch hazels by Christopher Lane, who is a British expert on them. One of the things he rates plants on is leaf retention/drop, so perhaps you can borrow a copy from the library to research other selections that might work better for you. I don't know if growing conditions contribute to the issue, and I imagine your growing conditions would be pretty different than those in the British Isles, so it might not help if they are important.

I will try Mike's strategy with the H. vernus I have which hangs on to its leaves to see how well it works.

Hamamelis virginiana is also commonly used for understock, and they routinely retain their leaves all winter as well. If it's determined that you have suckering stems from the understock, they need to be trimmed off at ground level, as eventually they will overtake Arnold (no 's) Promise. This will be a yearly regime. It's worth the trouble if you love witch hazels.

Yeah, this was a problem I had with mine...just had to live with it...and enjoy the Dec/Jan fragrant blooms :)
Of course if you feel anal, you could get out after frost and manually prune off each leaf.....

As some elluded to it seems to vary by cultivar. Of my Hamamelis ÃÂ intermedia cultivars 'Arnold's Promise' and 'Jelena' both hold onto their leaves. Depending how early late season freezes hit will dictate the amount of leaves left behind. None remain by mid winter. But 'Girard's Purple' loses its leaves.

My H. vernalis cultivars all lose their leaves in fall. H. vernalis is much more reliable for fall color compared to H x intermedia. I've yet to see fall color on Jelena.

It is normal for Hamamelis intermedia cultivars to hold on to some of their leaves. Some cultivars hold on to their leaves more than others. My Hamamelis (cultivar unknown) holds on to approximately 10% of its leaves. I cut the dead leaves off with my secateurs because I think they look awful in combination with the flowers.

The Scott Arboretum (Swarthmore, PA) has looked at the leaf retention of Hamamelis. Unfortunately, it did this for just one year. In my experience it differs somewhat from year to year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hamamelis Leaf Retention

This post was edited by GardenPrince on Thu, Feb 6, 14 at 4:53

Each witch hazel is unique in it's ability to shed leaves , and I believe even within it's own named variety. 'Princeton Gold', which I went to some trouble to obtain years ago, was touted as always shedding it's leaves. No so with mine. Each year is different as to how many leaves are retained. This past fall was the least amount. I have read from some sources that age is a factor in eventually loosing this trait. Also the traits of the rootstock, commonly virginiana, and their leaf shedding habit, will differ from plant to plant.
I don't mind going out with my little snippers and cutting off each leaf over winter. I can assure you hosing will NOT work - they are fastened on tightly. I'm looking at my Princeton Gold and Primavera now in bloom and I tell ya it's worth it to get out there and snip off leaves.

I have 'Diane' and I don't have a problem 'picking' and 'snipping' the dead leaves in order to enjoy her red dress. She's not a diminutive gal either.

I look at it this way. I'm doing it in Oct and Nov on nice crisp fall days and it's extremely relaxing (which I do over 2-3 sessions of at least half an hour) when I finally finish.

Just read about a new study that sais 'Harvest Moon' drops leaves quickest out of the maybe 50 cultivars they tested

Dan - Can you reference the study for us?

Thanks!