Cinnamon Girl Distylium (Evergreen Witch Hazel) – 3 Gallon Pot

Spacing:  3-4′ for mass plantings;  6’+ for space between plants

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Flower Color:  Red

Flower Size:  .25″

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Every once in a while, maybe once in a decade, a new plant comes along that has everything we look for in a hardy and reliable evergreen flowering shrub. Very adaptable, Distyliums, also known as Evergreen Witch Hazel, grow well in sun or part shade and will tolerate dry or wet soils when established, which can’t be said about many shrubs. Heat and humidity don’t phase the plants. We’ve seen no problems with insects and disease and deer turn their nose up to it. In landscape design, Distyliums are a great alternative for boxwood, laurels, holly and juniper in sunny to partially shaded home foundation plantings, landscape borders, and as a soil stabilizer on embankments and slopes.

Cinnamon Girl is a small leaf Distylium selection with plum-purple new growth that turns a blue-green as the leaves mature. The small leaves and compact growth give this plant a more refined look than the species. A member of the witch hazel family, petite red flowers appear along the ends of the stems in the winter. 

Update:  Cinnamon Girl has also shown slightly more cold hardiness showing less burn to foliage during what was an unusually cold 2014-15 winter. Definitely the most cold hardy Distylium to date. We hesitate to say, but it should be hardier at least a half zone further north (to 6b) than other varieties.

With its smaller stature to only 2 to 3 feet in height and a spread of  3 to 4 feet, Cinnamon Girl Distylium is an ideal evergreen shrub for use where a low plant is needed in home foundation plantings and landscape borders. It also works great mass planted on slopes and embankments where it serves to as a soil stabilizer for erosion control. The plum-purple new leaves mature to blue-green. 

Suggested Spacing:  3 feet apart for mass plantings and solid hedges;  6 feet or more apart for space between plants

Exceptionally adaptable and the most cold tolerant Distylium we’ve grown, Cinnamon Girl is very easy to grow in most any moist to moderately drained soil of average fertility and full sun to part shade. It tolerates wet soils better than many other evergreen shrubs but is also tolerant of dry soil conditions when established. We have Distyliums growing in sites that receive 4 hours and up to 8 hours of direct sunlight per day and plants do equally well. That said, the plants in more sun might be a little more dense. Maintenance is minimal unless you want a more formal shape or hedge, which will require some pruning.