Corylus avellana Aurea - Common Hazel

Corylus avellana Aurea is an unusual ornamental Hazel tree, as elegant as it is delicious, a beautiful fruiting bush that will be a pleasure in the ornamental garden. With a beautiful stature, this small dense tree develops young foliage of a bright yellow, becoming light green when mature, the two shades often blending on its luminous crown that can be seen from afar. Its spring flowering of pale yellow pendulous catkins, gives way to white hazelnuts turning brown-red, ripening in autumn. Plant it in ordinary soil, not too dry: it succeeds everywhere and in all exposures.

Corylus avellana belongs to the Betulaceae family, just like the birch tree. It is native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere and present in most areas, although it seems to be declining in the south due to global warming. It is a monoecious fruit tree, bearing distinct male and female inflorescences on the same plant.

The 'Aurea' cultivar is a horticultural creation that stands out from the species by the colour of its foliage and fruits. This bush spreads by producing shoots at the level of the crown. It will reach, on average, 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) in height and 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in width when mature, depending on the nature of the soil. It has a fairly rapid growth, especially in deep, fertile and moist soil. The young branches are brown to olive green in colour, the bark takes on a brown hue and a wrinkled appearance as it ages. The male flowers appear on the plant during the summer and bloom in February-March. They are pendulous, decorative, yellow catkins measuring 4 cm (1.6 in) in length. The female flowers bloom in March-April. They are bud-shaped, 6 to 8 mm (0.2 to 0.3 in), partially concealing bright red stigmas. The dense, deciduous foliage appears late in May and gives the Corylus its bushy appearance. Yellow at bud burst, the leaves then take on an increasingly marked green colour. They are round, strongly veined, and measure 6 to 10 cm (2.4 to 3.9 in) in length. The fruits that form on 1-year-old shoots are called hazelnuts. They are white and then become brown-red when ripe. Grouped in 1 to 4, they measure 2 cm (0.8 in) in diameter. They are harvested from late August to early September.

The common hazel has a lifespan of about 60 years. It will be happy with most soil but dislikes excessively dry soils. It is a very hardy, easy-to-grow bush, which can be cultivated both in isolation and in groups at the borders of the garden. It can also be used in an informal hedge, fruit hedge or windbreak, in the company of flowering apple trees, serviceberries, dogwoods, mountain ashes, Elaeagnus, and many others.