European Journal of Horticultural Science

Flowering, Forcing, Storage and Vase Life of Hamamelis

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Summary

Hamamelis comprises many selected cultivars flowering during winter and early spring. Early flowering and the exotic flowers may therefore be of interest for forcing and sale as cut flowers. Three cultivars of Hamamelis x intermedia, 'Arnold Promise' , 'Diane' and 'Jelena' , and the cultivar 'Pallida' of Hamamelis mollis, and one seedling selection of H. mollis were grown on the South-Western coast of Norway for six growing seasons (1997 to 2002). The amount of flowers on the branches differed between cultivars but was stable within cultivar from year to year. The time of full bloom differed from year to year for the same cultivar by 20 to 30 days (d), and the latest cultivar ( 'Diane' ) bloomed on average 34 d later than the earliest ( 'Jelena' ). Branches of all cultivars harvested for forcing before mid December flowered poorly and only after 15 to 20 d in forcing conditions. When harvested in January, flowering was abundant and occurred after only 2 to 5 d in forcing conditions. The longest spell of flowering was observed in H. intermedia 'Arnold Promise' and the shortest in H. mollis 'Pallida' . However, keeping quality differed from year to year, with the longest keeping quality occurring in flowers which bloomed when temperatures in the field were stable. Storage conditions could be made to compensate for low temperatures under outdoor conditions and stored branches would then flower after the same forcing time as branches harvested directly from the field. Different temperatures during storage (3, 6 and 9 °C) did not influence the number of days until flowering, but vase life decreased with increasing time and temperature in storage.

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