A Day Without Learning is a Day Wasted

A day without learning is a day wasted. If you'll remember last weekend I did a post about Loropetalum. But I learned some new things about it today.

This mornng I was watching The Georgia Gardener and he had a lady from the University of Florida as a guest speaker and she was talking about the old-fashioned, white witch hazel; which she apparently loved.

Now I've heard of witch hazel all my life - mostly as a healing astringent. She stated that the many loropetalums we enjoy today are hybridizations from the old-fashioned, common witch hazel, which was sometimes call the 'fringe flower'.

Of course, I did a search on witch hazel and was totally amazed at how much it's used for hybridizing and medicinal purposes!  More colors, shapes and sizes than a person can imagine! It's health benefits are touted as beneficial for everything from soothing teething infants gums to curing toenail fungus!

The most difficult thing about this plant is learning to pronounce her name, but it's pronounced just as it's spelled.


lor o PET a lum.

When I finally learned how to pronounce it, I'd take EVERY opportunity to work it into a conversation and would even say it when I was just strolling the yard! I'm so comfortable with it now, it just rolls off my tongue.

Oh, and it's on my xeriscaping list!


http://www.natural-soap-making.com/witch-hazel-uses.html
http://www.absolutewonder.com/loropetalum.html