Corylus Species, American Filbert, American Hazelnut

I bought two potted plants from a native plant nursery and planted them in my backyard in 2003. It makes a good looking large shrub with ...Read Morebirch-like foliage that gets a good golden or orange fall color, better color than the European species. It has nice smooth gray bark. Its yellowish catkins are very interesting in late winter and early spring. It does send out ground suckers some feet from the base. It bears edible nuts that the squirrels plunder before I can get to any. Like other native plants, it is a good source of food for native beneficial insects, and for birds that very much need the caterpillars and other larva for their young. The only insect that once tore up my hazels in over twelve years was the Japanese Beetle, along with the birch trees. It is wonderful for native, naturalistic landscapes, but it can work well as a screening plant or group in conventional landscapes.

A great native shrub for supporting native wildlife in eastern N. America.

The nuts are tasty but too small for commercial...Read More production, and most people consider them too much work to shell (not to mention the work involved in keeping wildlife off them).

Plants are not self-fertile---at least two genetically different plants are needed for successful cross-pollination.

This species carries the endemic Eastern Filbert Blight without being seriously affected by it. The source of commercial hazelnuts, the European C. avellana, is very susceptible to this disease, and until recently US production was all in the Pacific Northwest, beyond the range of C. americana and the blight. However, despite quarantine, EFB has become a serious problem for commercial production in the PNW since the mid-1990's.

Hybrid hazelnuts have now been bred (using C. americana, C. avellana, and the N. American C. cornuta) combining the large nut size of C. avellana with the additional winter hardiness and blight tolerance of the American species. They are suitable for both commercial and home nut production in midwestern and eastern N. America. They are also very drought-tolerant, and make excellent windbreak plants for the eastern Great Plains where annual precipitation is at least 20".

I was scanning the university research sites to learn about the Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB). Apparently the colonists brought Corylus a...Read Morevellana to New England but the plants all died. Now they think it may be because the native Corylus americana carries the pathogen. They reportedly didn't even have the blight in the west coast where all the orchards of cultivated hazelnuts are until the 1960s.

Native from New England down through Florida. Excellent for attracting wildlife to your property. The nuts of American hazelnut, which h...Read Moreave a higher nutritional value than acorns and beechnuts, also are eaten by squirrels, foxes, deer, northern bobwhite, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodpeckers and pheasants. The leaves, twigs, and catkins are browsed by rabbits, deer, and moose. The male catkins are a winter food for turkey and ruffed grouse. The dense, low growth habit provides cover and nesting sites for many wildlife species.

Large male catkins add interest in the Spring. Late summer nuts. Beautiful copper-red fall color.

Medium to large shrub that under some conditions can take the form of a small tree. Prefers full sun for best growth and development. Though it can grow and persist in partial shade, plant density and fruit production are greatly reduced.

Low maintenance. Can use as a hedge. Prune anytime.

Notes:
"Monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plant). In spring, male flowers appear in showy, 2-3" long, yellowish brown catkins and female flowers appear in small, reddish, inconspicuous catkins. Female flowers give way to small, egg-shaped, 1/2" long, edible nuts (maturing July-August) which are encased in leafy, husk-like, ragged-edged bracts." http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/you...