Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’, commonly named corkscrew hazel, offers both. In the winter, its contorted branches lend pattern to your landscape, and then in the late winter and early spring, the long yellow catkins of the male flowers add a punch of colour.
The corkscrew hazel was discovered in an English hedgerow in the mid-1800s by Canon Ellacombe, a Victorian-era gardener. It acquired the nickname “Harold Lauder’s Walking Stick” in the early 20th century. Harold Lauder was a popular Scottish entertainer who used branches from a corkscrew hazel as walking sticks. The nickname is still in use today. You will see it in plant catalogues and on nursery plant labels.
