Corylus americana
American hazelnut

Characteristics

Descriptions

Light Requirements

sun, part-sun, part-shade, shade

Soil Moisture

dry, moist

Soil Description

neutral, rich, average

Height

6'-12'

Bloom Time

March, April, May, June

Bloom Color

green

Hardiness Zone

4, 5, 6, 7, 8

More Filters

food for birds, berries/fruits, colonizing, fall interest, shade garden plant

Description

Corylus americana is a deciduous shrub valuable for its ornamental qualities and its production of edible nuts. It is multi-stemmed, dense, and usually reaches a mature height of 12', though it can grow taller under some circumstances. Each plant bears both female flowers and male catkins. The leaves are somewhat heart-shaped and in fall turn vivid shades of yellow to red, and even purple. The fruit are acorn-like, smaller than those of the European commercialized species, but equally delectable. The zig-zagging stems provide good visual interest in winter when bare of any foliage.

Cultivation

American hazelnut is very easy to grow, and tends to form dense colonies and thickets by means of rhizomes. It prefers rich, moist well-drained soils, but can tolerate dryer conditions in more shade and is also found in wetter areas such as along stream banks. It can be planted in full sun, but will tolerate full shade at lower elevations. It can be pruned anytime, used as an ornamental lawn specimen, as a hedging plant, or to naturalize large areas. Flowering times will vary from March to June. Zones 4-8

Additional Notes

There are few down sides to this species if any, and the abundant production of nuts is a bonus. Nuts and catkins are a valuable food source for birds and mammals, large and small. Thickets provide valuable shelter for wildlife.
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Pricing & Availability

Would you like your plants shipped later? You may choose to do so in the shopping cart.

Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Did you know? When plants are available from multiple growers, we list growers closest to your location first.

Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!

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AZ, CA, CO, FL, ID, LA, MT, NM, NV, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY

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Maps, Wetland Status & More

MAP OF NATIVE RANGE

Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.

More Information

Native To

More Information
AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, VA, VT, WI, WV, LA

Legal Status

Wetland Status

Atlantic and Gulf Coastal PlainFACU
Eastern Mountains and PiedmontFACU
Great PlainsUPL
MidwestFACU
Northcentral and NortheastFACU

 

MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS

Wetland Status regions

 
Northcentral and Northeast
 
Eastern Mountains and Piedmont
 
Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain
 
Midwest
 
Great Plains
 
Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast
 
Arid West

Interpreting Wetland Status

Code

Status

Designation

Comment

OBL

Obligate Wetland

Hydrophyte

Almost always occur in wetlands

FACW

Facultative Wetland

Hydrophyte

Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands

FAC

Facultative

Hydrophyte

Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands

FACU

Facultative Upland

Nonhydrophyte

Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands

UPL

Obligate Upland

Nonhydrophyte

Almost never occur in wetlands

Classification

KingdomPlantaePlants
SubkingdomTracheobiontaVascular plants
SuperdivisionSpermatophytaSeed plants
DivisionMagnoliophytaFlowering plants
ClassMagnoliopsidaDicotyledons
SubclassHamamelididae
OrderFagales
FamilyBetulaceaeBirch family
GenusCorylushazelnut
SpeciesCorylus americanaAmerican hazelnut

ADDITIONAL COMMON NAMES:

American filbert

Plant Sizes

Sizes Sizes

Sizes info

Shipping & Planting

SHIPPING INFO:

Shipping is free on all plants orders!

Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.

 

Shipping plugs:

Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.

When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.

After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.

Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.

PLANTING INFO:

Planting plugs:

We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.

We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.

Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.