Here it is in February, 2007 with the catkins dangling off it. The catkins remind me of a geisha's hair ornament. 
It is beautiful. Through the long winter it provides us with something lovely to look at in the front garden.
It wants to send up shoots below the graft which are not twisted. Those straight shoots get nipped out as soon as they are spotted.Though some of the ends of the shrub were killed by our hard winter, the plant seems to be quite hardy. It surprised me yesterday by revealing that it isn't just a living ornament in the garden, it has fruited!
Looking closely at it I was delighted to see that there are about 8 hazelnuts on this tree. I wasn't expecting this! I had assumed that an ornamental shrub was sterile and would not fruit. I am so pleased that I was mistaken!
16 comments:
So now you can have some hazelnut cookies and hazelnut coffee using your own hazelnuts. Very cool. ;-)
Just remember that hazelnuts and filberts are the same nut. Your father is seriously allergic to filberts, so please don't feed him anything made with the "fruits" of your wonderful tree.
xo, Ma
oops....sorry about the duplicate comment...i deleted one of them. xo
S'okay Ma!
I know about Dad's allergy. We have to be so careful when he's here - I scour the place to ensure there is nothing hazelnutty around even by accident.
Somebody else in the family also is allergic to filberts....maybe Sally? Can't remember now. That's one spectacular tree you have, though. Never seen one before. Your growing climate is more like our South, I think. Non??
Well I have an allergy to Brazil nuts. It's pretty severe but I can eat hazelnuts and most other nuts with impunity.
There's a corkscrew hazel in my son's garden, but it's being quickly overtaken by a maple growing too close to it, I am trying to persuade him to take the maple down to give the hazel a chance. The maple started out as a tiny seedling and nobody ever worried about it until now.
Congratulations on the job and the nuts!
Glad to see you back posting, Peggy! We're only allergic to ragweed and cats in this branch of the family.
Cousin Susan
nice pictures as usual!
It reminds me of my old hair style Peggy!
Did you know that you're a very bad blogger.... it's October already!
Is everything Okay?
Its been 2 months since your last posting.
XXOO
Wil
Hi There. I love your blog. I found it a few years ago and bookmarked it. I don't even remember why or how I found it. But whenever I pop back in to take a look I'm pleasantly pleased. Good luck on the job. Don't stop blogging though!
Ann from Canada
Hello
Now am beginning to worry, so long since your last blog.
Even one line without a photo would put mind to rest.
Mrs K
I'm terribly sorry for neglecting the blog. I was sucked into a bad job vortex. I am out now. :-)
I've had my tree for nearly 20 years and nothing this evening just found it covered in muts!!
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