WTF, Mate? Another ID Request

ShadyStump

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This is a bush on the grounds of the local arts center. Grows in all sorts of scraggly corkscrews.
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I grabbed a cutting out of the pile when I was walking by one day and the gardener had been cleaning it up, along with one from the nearby Mormon tea bush. Both are starting to bud now!
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LeafSnap suggests a hazel of some sort, but the rest of garden there is mostly local Colorado natives, so I'm not so sure.

I know it'll be tough with no foliage the see, but curiosity got the best of me today. Maybe those flowers/seeds will help. If no joy, I'll update as soon as there's leaves.
 

LittleDingus

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Possibly:


I see one orvtwo in the nurseries and big box stores around KC just about every year. I've thought about getting one as a landscape tree but never had a spot for it.
 

ShadyStump

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Possibly:


I see one orvtwo in the nurseries and big box stores around KC just about every year. I've thought about getting one as a landscape tree but never had a spot for it.
So your saying a plant ID app might actually be right? 😯

Well now what do I do with my evening?😛
 

Scorpius

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Harry Lauders Walking Stick aka Contorted Filbert. It's very susceptible to a blight. I would stick with the red leaved variety for better disease resistance. The red leafy variety is also hard to find last time I looked.
 

ShadyStump

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Yeah, mine said hazel too. That just seemed out of place with all the native plants around it, so I didn't trust the results.
So far as I know, there's no form of hazel native in my region, and the rest of that garden are varieties of natives. I could be wrong, though. There is a species of hazel native to north America, but I thought they were only found well east of here.

Still, the consensus is contorted hazel, and I've no other reason to believe it's not.
Thanks!
 

penumbra

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A few things about this plant. I have had several of them on and off for close to 50 years.

Most of them sucker profusely, though they last one I had did not. It was about 42 inches tall and almost that wide. (got bored and gave it to a friend so I had more space for JMs. )
They are at their most attractive right now, bare of leaves and full of catkins. In the summer with leaves they are less impressive. Spring is when I have been suckered into buying them.
Beetles love them and will devour them straight away. Probably most chewing insects will. They can get aphids if they are stressed but this is of a lesser concern and likelihood.
Blight was mentioned by another poster. I have never seen this and poster did not mention which blight. I had one right near a crab with fire blight and the Harry Lauder had no problem.
They need as much sun as you can give them. This is when they look their best. In shade they can get powdery mildew.
They do not root from hardwood (dormant) cuttings in my experience. I have never seen one that wasn't a graft but they may layer.
They are about the most frustrating plant to consider as a bonsai. They simply will not be tamed or trained.

They are an interesting botanical but every summer I wondered why I bothered and every spring I remembered. Also nice in winter, look awesome with snow on the curving branches.
 

ShadyStump

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A few things about this plant. I have had several of them on and off for close to 50 years.

Most of them sucker profusely, though they last one I had did not. It was about 42 inches tall and almost that wide. (got bored and gave it to a friend so I had more space for JMs. )
They are at their most attractive right now, bare of leaves and full of catkins. In the summer with leaves they are less impressive. Spring is when I have been suckered into buying them.
Beetles love them and will devour them straight away. Probably most chewing insects will. They can get aphids if they are stressed but this is of a lesser concern and likelihood.
Blight was mentioned by another poster. I have never seen this and poster did not mention which blight. I had one right near a crab with fire blight and the Harry Lauder had no problem.
They need as much sun as you can give them. This is when they look their best. In shade they can get powdery mildew.
They do not root from hardwood (dormant) cuttings in my experience. I have never seen one that wasn't a graft but they may layer.
They are about the most frustrating plant to consider as a bonsai. They simply will not be tamed or trained.

They are an interesting botanical but every summer I wondered why I bothered and every spring I remembered. Also nice in winter, look awesome with snow on the curving branches.
Thanks! Always nice to hear from someone with experience.

This is a cutting, so I won't have to worry about grafts. The article @LittleDingus posted says the suckers are mostly an issue with grafted rootstock, so we'll see how much of an issue that is.
I'm ok with minimal training. I imagine it'll do well with cut and grow, just a matter of keeping the internodes short. Sun is not an issue here, but powdery mildew is. I'll be getting some neem oil ASAP for the season anyway. I may just wind up planting it in the yard, at least for a time.

Do they back bud well enough?
 

penumbra

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I have never seen this blight on any filberts, ornamental or crop. Guess I am lucky in blight.
 

Natty Bumppo

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I planted one in yard as a grafted bare root years ago. It's a huge shrub now, but mostly dominated by the rootstock. I have to prune non-twisted trunks severely to allow the few twisted trunks to grow. Wish I knew if any products could be applied to cut root-stock trunks that would prevent them from suckering without killing the whole bush.
After if leafs out this year I'm going to try air layering a contorted branch to try and create a 100% contorted plant with no separate rootstock. Will inevitably try putting 1 in a pot for future bonsai.
 

ShadyStump

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So far my little cutting isn't doing so grand. The buds started to push growth, but then just stopped.
It's been sitting still for a couple weeks now with half open buds.

We'll see what happens, but early summer may be better timing.
 

ShadyStump

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I can see the characteristics @penumbra called frustrating, but there's potential there for some fun with trees, and that's all I'm looking for.
Thanks.

At first it seemed like the direction changes in the branches emanated from the nodes, so that cut and grow would work well, but the more I look at these the more I think the internodes just never grow straight.
Like I said, it'll be fun, and that's all I care about with this one.
 

RobGA

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I planted one in yard as a grafted bare root years ago. It's a huge shrub now, but mostly dominated by the rootstock. I have to prune non-twisted trunks severely to allow the few twisted trunks to grow. Wish I knew if any products could be applied to cut root-stock trunks that would prevent them from suckering without killing the whole bush.
After if leafs out this year I'm going to try air layering a contorted branch to try and create a 100% contorted plant with no separate rootstock. Will inevitably try putting 1 in a pot for future bonsai.
Did you ever air layer your contorted filbert? I have a huge one in my yard and thinking about trying.
 
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