PlantFiles: Corkscrew Hazel, Contorted Filbert, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
Corylus avellana 'Contorta'

i would like to know the correct way to start a tree from the acorn.

I have had no problems with these at all. They are beautiful and easily propagated via air layering.

I am new to this site so I appologize if I am not in the right area. We just purchased this plant and we love the look. It has only been in the ground for a few days and gets great sun. We have been watering it regularly, however the leaves seem a bit wilted can anyone provide some information as to care. We live in CT

I have always loved this tree and have (had) an older specimen here in the North Carolina Mountains. The Eastern Filbert blight took it down last year for good. It broke my heart to have to have the tree removed. I've had it for around 15-18 years. I have also seen the blight on other trees in the area. Simply can't grow it here anymore.

We love Filbert, but the beetles do, too. He looks a little sickly and we don't know if it's entirely the work of the beetles, or if that Eastern Blight problem has struck our yard. We're thinking about transferring from his pot to the ground. Will this kill him? Or should we bring him inside for the winter? I see a lot of comments about how lovely filberts are in the winter.

We were wandering around our favorite nursery early this spring when we came across this most interesting plant. We bought our 'own-root' Corylus avellana (H.L.W.S.), and we have it in a large pot in full sun on our deck in northwestern New Jersey (USA). It's almost 3' tall. When we bought it in April, 2008, it had a few catkins. Then, in May, it began to bud, but then stopped. It began to leaf early in July, but very sparsely. We have no idea if this is normal!

Eastern Filbert Blight has made it impossible to grow this plant in North Central, Pennsylvania. The host of the blight is the Native Filberts common to our area. The Native Filberts are not affected by the blight.

I had the first known loss in North Central, Pennsylvania and have since seen three or four other cases of Eastern Filbert Blight all of which killed the effected plants.

The only option here is to grow the Native Filberts which the squirrels like just as well.

One common name for contorta is: Harry Lauder's Walking Stick.

We bought a home that has a Corkscrew Hazel in the front yard right in front of our main window. We absolutely love this tree. We had nicknamed it the "Grandfather Tree" because of the crinkled leaves. Our's was planted around 1976 when the home was built , and it is now approx. 9 ft. tall and about 6 ft wide. We love the caskins and have not noticed any blooms yet, but did not know to watch for them they are so tiny. We have only lived here for three years. We have had a hard time on figuring out how to prune it, which is what led us to this site. I do know that there is another smaller one just down the road from us about half the size of ours. I also did see a contorted filburt for sale at our lowes last year that was only about 2 ft tall, so I am assumming that they are available for sale in Oregon again. This is our most beloved tree on our property with many different trees. I have never noticed any disease on our tree at all, and I am very thankful for that. I do know that our urymastyx mali (a lizard) loves to munch on the leaves.

I absolutely love it ! I prefer native plants and love character in the front garden. My local nursery recommended this in 1997 as a tree to add interest. It is a garden focal point, straight out my door, so I enjoy it's character year round (better in Winter and Spring). It has been easy to maintain, just cutting back suckers to keep the twisted shape. Some people don't understand it, they think it's odd, but if you love gardens - you will !

We purchased this beautiful shrub in 2005 when it was about 4 feet high and wide. It is over 6 feet high and more than 6 feet wide 2 years later and is absolutely stunning.
It's the focal point in our garden. We have not had any dieback or insect problems with it and we live in Burlington Ontario, Canada.

Our tree is fantastic - we've had it around 3 years, and this year it's covered with nuts. I don't prune it and it looks after itself, mostly, apart from throwing up a fair number of suckers. (And Silphion, many thanks for your contorted plant list - I'd also recommend Leucothoe 'Curly Red' for its curly nature.. :)

If your a bit of a nut (no pun intended) for contorted plants then this is the one that takes the cake. I'm working on a whole contorted section and it's fun to compare my H.L.W.S. to my other contorted plants...as far as I can tell only the Contorted Hawthorn can match it as far as the severity of contortion and the multiple appeal (The Hawthorn is a lovely bloomer though not in the same season) I've worked up a little graded list of Contorta's which may come in handy for those on the look...no I don't have them all...yet~

Contortion scale: 1) limited contortion; 2) moderate contortion; 3) heavy contortion

Cercis canadensis ‘Covey’ (Lavender Twist Redbud) 1-2
Corokia cotoneaster ‘little prince’ 1-2
Corylus avellana 'Contorta' (Contorted Filbert) 3
Crataegus monogyna 'Flexuosa' (Contorted Singleseed Hawthorn) 3
Cryptomeria japonica 'Cristata' 2
Ficus benaminia ‘Contorta’ (Contorted Weeping Fig) 1-2
Juncus effuses ‘Spirilis’ & ‘Curley Wurley’ (Corkscrew Rushes) 3
Juncus inflexus ‘Afro’ (Giant Corkscrew Rushes) 3
Larix kaempferi ‘diane’ (Contorted Japanese Larch) 2-3
Poncirus trifoliate ‘flying dragon’ (Contorted Dwarf Trifoliate Orange) 3
Robinia pseudoacacia 'Tortuosa' & ‘Twisty baby’ (Contorted Black Locust) 2
Salix babylonica var. pekinensis 'Tortuosa' 2-3

Here's a few more whose contorted nature I have to take on faith as I've never even seen pictures of them:

Ligustrum japonicum 'Rotundifolium'
Morus australis ‘Unryo’ (Contorted Mulberry)
Prunus laurocerasus 'Camelliifolia'
Tabebuia caraiba (Silver Trumpet Tree)
Ulmus glabra ‘Camperdownii’ (Camperdown weeping Elm)
Ziziphus jujube ‘So’ (Contorted Jujube)

A few words of advice on the Contorted Filbert: judicious trimming in the fall (if you want a few "main" branches rather than many, many little branchlets) may hinder catkin producion; I dont want to state it as fact but it seems that it blooms on the previous year's new growth. Also, because of general similarities between H.L.W.S. leaves and Witchhazel leaves, it is not very impressive to have them near one another. During the summer the Witchhazel is vibrant with large flat leaves and the filbert looks like a witchhazel dieing for a drink (the effect of having them together in the winter is another story...and how!)

We just bought our Harry last summer and we are loving it every season. It especially looks neat in the winter, covered in snow.

My only problem are rabbits chewing the lower branches off. I put chicken wire around it for a few years till I had branches to spare. It's unique and worry free in Iowa. I've had mine since ''98''. I noiced the catkins around the first of March. It grows really slow.

I have two of these, one on the west side, where it gets hot afternoon sun, and one on the east side, with morning sun. We've had them for many years and they've both done very well. The one on the east side has an abundance of suckers that I have to keep control of, but other than that, no problems at all. Sometimes people think it's wilting, but it's just the nature of it to look like that. No nuts ever, just the catkins.

Harry is about 4 years old now and is over five feet in height. Very healthy and full. Gets catkins, but no nuts. Has lots of leaves, but so far has not ever bloomed. Harry now resides in a large tub in the yard because I am transplanting him to a better location in the yard to see if I can get blooms. I'm pleased with this plant because of its interesting shape and the fact that it has never had any diseases or bugs.

I planted mine in April 2005 and it settled in fine even though we had some periods of very dry weather. I just discovered that Japanese Beetles are quite fond of the leaves!

I started this tree about 15 years ago and it has done very good . Its in the north side of my home where the soil is moist. Its size now is about 10 feet tall. When this tree started it was just a twig about 2ft tall. I trim it ever fall to keep it bushey . I live in Michigan and the cold has never bother it. Its a very beautiful tree and in the winter when the leaves are gone it looks the best.

I bought it 3 years ago, and it is now 5 ft tall and 6 ft wide. Some suckers grow each year. I too get catkins, but no fruit. No pests or diseases either. People think it's dying in the summer, because it's limp, but it comes "alive" in the winter.

I have a lovely specimen in my front yard. I wasn't sure what it was until researching it tonight, but whomever did our landscaping did a lovely job with plant choices. My Harry is very tall, at least 8 feet, and was planted a *little* too close to our house. We get the catkins...just noticed some this week. (It's late March) We don't have nuts on ours. If the landscaping was put in when our house was built, I'm guessing our Harry is 20 years old. I do have a few suckers....now I know what those are. The people we bought the house from did not keep up the garden, so I thought they were "helicopters" that were turning to trees...we have groundcover around our Harry so it was hard to tell they were coming from the root until I inspected up close..

I have put a spotlight on Harry and he looks lovely in the evenings. I'll take some pictures and upload them soon. What a great tree!

It is now Sept. 12, and my contorted filbert that I planted in late July is blooming? That can't be right.

I first saw the contorted filbert tree while visiting my brother in Yakima, WA about 10 years ago. My husband & I purchased ours shortly after that. Ours is now about 10' tall & is a great conversation piece for visitors to our backyard, it is our favorite plant/tree. This year our tree is FULL of nuts. (That is if the squirrels don't get them first.) I may try to plant a few and see if I have any luck growing another tree. chattykat

I noticed some sickly large specimens here in Northeastern Ohio, so I did a search and found that it is now outlawed for sale in Oregon because it is susceptable to Eastern Filbert Blight. That could be bad news, although mine seems fine for the time being.

Has been a very intersting plant to have. It reached the height of 4ft. this year (year 4) and about as wide. Last year it devolped long slender pods (4") and this year we have blossoms for the first time. We live in a Z5 region in Western Pa.

I have had this plant in my garden since 1997 and I have not had any hardiness problems at all.

This past winter our low was -25°F (-32°C) and the plant didn't blink an eye - no die-back at all. My plant is on its own roots (the roots are contorted, too) so I don't have to worry about constantly pruning out the normal growth that grows from the understock (roots) of grafted plants.

Try to purchase a plant on its own roots, if at all possible. I purchased my plant from Heronswood Nursery in Washington state. Heronswood is the only mail order nursery that I know of that is producing own-root plants.
Mike

My Contorted Filbert (Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) is my favorite specimen. This can be purchased grafted as a tree, or left as a shrub. I have one of each, and I prefer the grafted tree form. I planted this one about 7 or 8 years ago at about 4 feet high, and it is now over 10 feet high. Clippings are fabulous for dried flower arrangements. Blooms in March in my zone - it is so beautiful. It is a great conversation piece in the landscape. I actually believe mine produced nuts last summer, which the squirrels pointed out to me. I have had no pest problems at all. I did have a lot of suckers - hard to keep up with, but I finally resolved this with some thick weed netting and mulch.

This cultivar does not fruit, so no seeds are produced.

This plant is also used as a bonsai, and whether in the garden as a specimen plant or as bonsai, the main attraction is the wonderfully contorted branches. Hence, best for winter interest. Non-descript in the summer. The Japanese Beetles prefer this shrub in my garden, leaving it almost denuded some years. No other noticeable pest problems in my garden. Slow grower.