The Joyful Botanist: Season of the Witch Hobble
Witch Hobble (Viburnum lantanoides) is a native shrub that grows to 10 feet tall and upward of 12 feet wide.
Adam Bigelow photo
In autumn, large trees like maples (Acer spp.), hickories (Carya spp.) and Oaks (Quercus spp.) get all the attention for their vivid fall leaf color. And that esteem is well deserved, along with smaller trees like flowering dogwood (Benthamidia florida), blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) and sourwood (Oxydendron arboreum), these colorful trees bring the tourists and their cameras each fall.
Shrubs, too, can be beautiful at the end of the year and are often planted in landscapes just for their fall color. Three shrubs native to Southern Appalachia that have striking foliage as the air turns cooler and the nights grow longer also have a bit of a supernatural connection. Since it’s now the spooky season, we might as well call these shrubs the witches three: witch-alder, witch-hazel and witch hobble.
Found in both wild places and more frequently in designed landscapes and at retail plant nurseries, Fothergilla major, a.k.a. witch-alder, is a native shrub that grows to 10 feet tall and upward of 12 feet wide. In late spring to early summer, the branch tips are covered in creamy yellow flowers that form a bottlebrush shape. The beauty of these flowers is eclipsed only by the stunning and bright fall coloration. Their leaves turn various hues of red, orange and gold.
The next witch to stir the pot is the witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) whose tale I told back in November 2022 (SMN Notes from a plant nerd Witch-Hazel — Nov. 2, 2022). While the fall flowers are often the story spoke of this shrub, this witchy plant’s leaves turn a bright yellow that often obscure the yellow stringy flower petals. A spring blooming species of witch-hazel lives in the Ozarks and also has beautiful fall color. However, its flowers bloom in spring and come in a variety of reds and oranges. This is the Ozark witch-hazel (Hamamelis vernalis).
The final witch in this coven of color is a shrub that is mostly found in the south at the higher elevations of the Blue Ridge, called witch hobble (Viburnum lantanoides). A common northern species that grows in abundance in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada also thrives in Southern Appalachia at or above 4,500 feet.
It has an arching and spreading growth form, and branches will root if they are bent down in contact with the soil. This habit is what makes it one of the hobble bushes, like doghobble (Leucothoe fontanesiana).
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In springtime, witch hobble produces large and fancy flower clusters that bloom white and creamy. There is a ring of showy sterile florets that surround the small fertile flowers in the middle. These sterile flowers serve to help attract insects to the plant to aid in pollination. In horticultural terms, the flowers are in a form called lacecaps and are similar to cultivated hydrangeas which are selected for this display.
The flowers emerge at the same time as the leaves begin to unfurl from their dormant winter buds. Witch hobble leaf buds are not covered in any protective scales or leaves but remain uncovered or “naked” on the stem all winter long. Their “prayer hand” appearance can be diagnostic for identification in wintertime.
The leaves are large and rounded (Ovate) with a heart shape (Cordate) and serrated edges like sawteeth. Emerging leaves are coppery and quickly turn dark green for their photosynthetic summer job. When the temperatures start to drop and the nights get longer as fall approaches, the witch hobble really puts on a show.
Their fall coloration is variable and hard to describe. The hues are dominated by deep red and purple with splotches of yellow and some of the cells holding onto green. The look is a bit like a tie-dye, as if a preppy tennis player went to a Grateful Dead show. Beautiful.
If you spot a colorful shrub on a fall hike around the end of October, there may just be some witchcraft brewing in the Appalachian woods around you. Ahh, but which hobble is it? Which hazel or which alder, for that matter?
(The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)
