Corylus avellana - Native Hazel - 80cm-100cm

Corylus avellana or Common Hazel, is an ancient, highly adaptable deciduous multi-stemmed shrub or small tree. Deeply rooted in Irish history and mythology as the "Tree of Wisdom", hazel is a cornerstone of native woodlands, hedgerows, and the limestone pavements of the Burren. Renowned for its bendy, flexible wood and delicious nut harvests, it is one of the most productive, multi-purpose native plants you can introduce to a landscape. In September and October, the canopy turns a warm soft yellow or russet-brown. Concurrently, the famous hazelnuts ripen, nestled inside fringed, leafy husks. Hazel is a primary choice for creating a native country hedgerow, typically mixed with Hawthorn and Blackthorn, or planting as a productive woodland edge.

Key Features

• Form & Growth Habit: Typically grows as a dense, multi-stemmed shrub or small understory tree reaching heights of 4 to 8 metres with a matching spread. It features smooth, shiny, copper-brown bark that becomes slightly fissured with age. 
• Foliage: Large, soft, rounded-to-oval green leaves with a distinct double-serrated (toothed) edge and a sharply pointed tip. The leaves are downy and hairy to the touch, shifting to a clear butter-yellow in autumn.
• Winter & Spring Catkins: One of the earliest harbingers of spring, long, golden-yellow drooping male catkins (known as "lamb's tails") swing on bare branches from January to April. The tiny female flowers emerge just above them, looking like inconspicuous green buds crowned with minute, bright red crimson styles to catch wind-blown pollen. 
• The Hazelnuts: The pollinated female flowers slowly mature into clusters of 1 to 4 edible hazelnuts (cobnuts), each about 1–2 cm long and cradled within a leafy, protective green husk (bract) that turns brown when ripe in September

Growing Conditions

• Soil Profile: Incredibly adaptable, it grows comfortably across sand, loam, and clay. It shows a massive preference for moist, highly fertile, well-drained, and nutrient-rich base-heavy soils. It forms pure "Atlantic hazelwoods" across exposed limestone scrub landscapes, most famously dominating the rocky plateaus of The Burren in County Clare.
• Light Aspect: Thrives perfectly in full sun down to partial or dappled shade. Because it evolved as a classic forest understory tree, it manages lower light levels comfortably.
• Hardiness: Fully hardy and wind-resistant across Ireland, handling cold winters down to -20°C and exposed upland environments with absolute ease.
• Pollination: Hazel cannot pollinate itself so you must plant at least two different hazel trees nearby to ensure wind-driven cross-pollination for a bounty of edible nuts.

Wildlife Value

• Feeding: The energy-dense, highly nutritious hazelnuts are a critical autumn lifeline for native red squirrels, woodmice and birds.
• Early Season Insects: Because the golden male catkins open up when the rest of the landscape is completely dormant, they provide a vital early source of pollen for emerging bumblebees and honeybees waking up in late winter.
• Larval Super-Host: The rich leaf canopy nourishes the caterpillars of numerous native moths.