Winter hazel
Corylopsis pauciflora
Also called Corylopsis and Buttercup winter hazel
Garden plant · ShrubsPale yellow bells on bare twigs in March, scented of cowslips. The one rule is to keep it out of EARLY morning sun: the flowers take a frost and then thaw too fast in it, which turns them brown in an hour.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Medium
- Water
- Every 4 daysDrench and drain — water the whole surface until it runs from the holes.
- Light
- Part shade, sheltered from morning sun
- Feed
- Every 45 days
- Humidity
- Average
- Hardiness
- Hardy — a cold winter RHS H5, to -15°C
- Size
- 1.5 m tall · 2 m across
- Lifecycle
- Shrub
- Origin
- Japan and Taiwan
Is it safe for pets and people?
PetsNothing recorded against it
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
PeopleNot checked yet
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Tassels that were fine at dusk and are brown by mid-morning. It is not the frost that does it but the THAW — direct early sun on frozen flowers. An east-facing spot is the wrong one for this plant.Browned flowers after a frost · disorder
- A healthy bush that flowers hardly at all. It was cut in summer or autumn — it sets next year's buds soon after flowering, so any tidying has to be done in the few weeks straight afterwards.Pruned at the wrong time · disorder