Description
The Hazel, Corylus avellana, is a native shrub or small tree quite familiar in our landscape, it can be very impressive in the late winter or early spring with it’s long yellow catkins.
This example is Corylus avellana ” contora ” with it’s curious corkscrew branching. We purchased this tree as a larger un-worked piece of raw material and have cut it down to what you see in the photos. The large pruning scar on the main trunk has been hollow carved to create a more natural, hollow look, rather as if the tree had suffered storm or lightening damage. You may feel that you are purchasing little more than a bare trunk although there is the start of a trunk continuation branch as well as a smaller trunk at the back and a couple of side branches. The photos don’t really show them but there are plenty of fat green buds waiting to emerge in the spring to allow further development. An obvious feature that we think will make to whole development exercise well worth it is that impressive trunk base, it is good from various views making the choice of front not that easy, on balance we think the feature photos shows the surface roots a bit better. The main trunk has a diam. of 5cm above the buttressing and the smaller back trunk 2.5cm. in diam. Grow it prune it, grow it prune it, and I think the end result will be very satisfying in not too great a time span, imagine the bonsai when it has the branching to grow some of those lovely catkins in the early spring, you never know it might even produce Hazel nuts !
