Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MHS) autumn exhibitions, was voted an Writer Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-1852) and author Herman Melville (1819-1891).Īrnold entered cultivated varieties of peaches and grapes into 1830’s Such as past President John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), landscape designer, In time his estate totaling 11 acres,Įxtensively planted, was opened to townspeople as well as visiting notables Arnold later moved to New Bedford, working However, theĪrboretum’s name itself honors James Arnold (1781-1868), born to a Quakerįamily of Providence, Rhode Island. Seven plants grew from the original hybrid seeds collected by William Judd…but one was spectacularly different with its profuse, slightly fragrant, clear yellow flowers…given the clonal name ‘Arnold Promise’.”įirst floral commemoration honored the Arnold Arboretum. x intermedia, because its character was intermediate between its parents. Alfred Rehder in 1944 named the hybrid H. The pollen parent (analogous to the father plant) was eventually determined to have been a closely adjacent plant of H. mollis but rather appeared to be hybrids. The resulting seedlings turned out to be not H. in Arnoldia, “In 1928, William Judd, the propagator at the time, collected seeds from a plant of the Chinese witch hazel, ( Hamamelis mollis. We excerpt from a 1981 article by Richard E. Our two-for-one floral commemoration begins at Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum. Promise’ witch hazel has made the floral promise of a spring to come. Long before the golden daffodils or forsythia bloom toĪnnounce springtime to New Englanders, the ‘Arnold

Severe snowstorms and/or extreme cold temperatures, these flowers curl up until The blooming time, often even during a snowfall, enlargesīeyond their size the ornamental value in an often drab winter landscape. Strap-shaped petals, ½-inch long and 1/16-inch wide, albeit with a brilliant Though, highlighted is the delightful, curious reality that this shrub usually

Our “who does your garden grow” theme, we might say that Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’, the ‘Arnold Promise’ witch hazel provides

… when we plant a tree, two trees take root:Īnd the inverted one that cleaves the soil

A Grave in Autumn by Donald Gorman