Corkscrew Hazel, Contorted Filbert, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick 'Contorta' (Cor

May 2002.

How old do these trees have to be to produce hazelnuts? We have one that is about 5 years old, and we have no nuts?

I have read in several places that they do not produce nuts, but many people who have them insist that they do. I wonder if there are different subspecies or something?

Mine is about 7 or 8 years old. Never saw a nut yet. I don't expect to find any though.

Our Harry's Walking Stick might be 15 or 20 years or so. Occasionally we see a few nuts, and perhaps the squirrels see more than we do.

There is a European filbert (Barcelona?) growing about 10' away that we keep cut to the ground for the sake of a narrow hedge of holly "Dragon Lady" behind Harry, but some years it gets far enough along to produce catkins. There have been volunteer seedlings! They have twisted branches, but do not seem to be as twisted as Harry - perhaps they will twist more with time? I have been giving them away to neighbors and only have one left, so unfortunately don't have any to share right now.

Looking out the kitchen window, Harry is on the right back corner of a garden centered on a tiny, flagged "court" which is set into two arms of a horseshoe-shaped bed carpeted in geranium macrorrhizum. Behind the court, Helloborus x hybrida follow the back curve of the horseshoe under a bird bath to Harry's right. To Harry's left is Sciadopyllus verticillata (rooted cutting from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden 25 years ago as a "surprise plant" when such things were affordable), with mountain laurel in front and a creeping juniper which makes a cascade down the hill in front of that and which also marks the entrance.

I thought it might be useful to go into this detail, because this garden does not take much maintenance, except to give Harry occasional haircuts in late winter to keep him in balance with the holly and sciadopyllus. Also, this is a nice example of how balancing deciduous woody plants (Harry - drops leaves in winter) with evergreen coniferous woodies (needle "leaves", like the sciadopyllus) and evergreen broadleaf woodies (like mountain laurel) makes for a more interesting garden, let alone view out the kitchen window for the 6 dreariest months of the year.

I hope I don't sound too preachy - I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but perhaps there might be someone reading this whose garden knowledge is where mine was 30 years ago - my main garden guru was called "Oops".

PS - Filberts do seem to be susceptible to a blight in North America, so for that reason, when I prune, I do it in late winter at which time I think the cuts might be less susceptible to pathogens.

Bluespiral: This will be the third summer for my HLWS. It is about 2-1/2 feet tall. I have it on the west side of my house. How --fast-- does it grow? It isn't growing 'by leaps and bounds'. It's in the middle of my most precious flowerbed, and I need to move it sooner or later. I appreciate any comments you have (you're not preachy--for this particular plant, I'm the novice you mentioned). I'm in zone 7 - HOT in the summer, but freezes in the winter.

Thanks!

I can't give you exact numbers of years, but I seem to recall it sat there the first few years not doing much, and then around year 5 or 6, it took off. If I had not pruned it to keep it in bounds over the years, I estimate it would be a solid, boring green mass in summer bigger than the tool shed: 10' x 10'.

So, if you want to grow flowers requiring more sun than cranesbills and hellebors, I would move it when it drops it leaves and goes dormant in the fall or just before spring (pathogens tend to be less active in cold weather). You might want to prune the top back by one-quarter to balance any trauma to the roots. I don't know how much sun these can take, but I have noticed that another corylus species (native hazelnut) grows naturally in the dappled shade of woodlands. I'm thinking that partial shade like that of a woodland habitat might ameliorate the extreme variations between hot summers and freezing winters where you live.

Also, keep in mind that HLWS are grafted onto rootstock whose name I have forgotten. Disturbance to the roots may result in suckers appearing around the base of the plant from the root stock. These should be pruned out to focus the energy of the plant on HLWS which is grafted on top of them. (I get those suckers anyway)

Hope this helps.

Hi. Thanks for your reply. Right now it is in a west-facing bed that gets full sun in the afternoon... It does well there. In the fall I will transplant it to a friendlier envirionment. Thanks for the info on the grafted part. I"ll watch it closely.

pat

I am wondering how close to the house I can plant this shrub? b

Mine gets morning and afternoon sun and I live in NY State where winters are in the 4 zone. It looks fine and has big green leaves and then they brown and drop in fall, but it has not twisted yet and wonder how to prune it? It is about 5 yrs.old now and maybe about 3 1/2 ft - 4 ft. high now. Do you prune only in late winter or other times to get the twist going ? (Japanese beetles are a pest to this thing's leaves too.) I would appreciate any help you might give me. No you are not preachy... You seem to be very knowledgeable about these , so I would value your advice.