The first bloom I witnessed this year was not surprisingly a witchhazel, probably (Hamamelis xintermedia), the most common cultivar of which is 'Arnold Promise'. However, Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs states that Chinese witchhazel (Hamamelis mollis) blooms earlier. I have never seen H. mollis for sale in local trade nurseries, and since it is one of the parents of the hybrid (H. japonica is the other), only a botanist could surely tell the apart. It seems likely however that this is the progeny and not the earlier-blooming parent.
Note: This specimen was located in Cypress Hills Cemetery, high on the terminal moraine that is a popular Long Island cemetery site (for its rising slope & prospect). Look closely and you will notice it is planted at the sidewalk terminus. Was this to keep strollers from wandering out into the roadway? Or did it just seem like an obvious sightline? Odd.
