About the Hazelnut Tree
The Corylus americana or American hazelnut is a deciduous thicket-forming shrub native to the eastern United States and Canada. Hazelnut shrubs are useful as screens or as informal naturalized plantings, according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
-
Identification
-
American hazelnut grows between 10 and 16 feet tall with an 8- to 13-foot spread. It has brown bark and hairy, dark-green, heart-shaped leaves that change to coppery-red in autumn. The plant flowers between April and June, producing showy yellowish-brown catkins, or column-shaped flower clusters without petals. Edible hazelnuts, also called filberts, replace the blossoms.
Features
-
American hazelnuts are hardy in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 9 (see Resources). They prefer full sun or partial shade and well-drained, medium soil. They can be pruned at any time of year; the Missouri Botanical Garden recommends removing root suckers, or buds and shoots that develop on the roots, to maintain their form and prevent them from forming thickets.
-
Considerations
-
American hazelnut shrubs have few serious disease or insect problems. They are occasionally susceptible to blight and leaf spot diseases, as well as attacks from caterpillars, scale and leafhopper insects. Birds and squirrels are attracted to the edible nuts. No cultivars are available as of 2010.
-
