Hazel

Hazel serves as an exceptional understory shrub, creating multi-stemmed screens and wildlife corridors. Its flexible stems make living fedges and woven boundaries, while the dense canopy provides shelter for woodland gardens. Plant as windbreaks, coppice groves, or naturalistic hedgerows. The graceful catkins add winter interest, and autumn foliage turns golden-yellow. Thrives in partial shade beneath larger trees, making it invaluable for forest garden design and permaculture systems.

Hazel bark contains tannins traditionally used as an astringent for treating varicose veins, hemorrhoids, and excessive menstruation. The leaves make anti-inflammatory poultices for skin conditions. Hazel nut oil nourishes dry skin and strengthens hair. Medieval herbalists prescribed hazel for fever reduction and wound healing. The catkin pollen was used for respiratory ailments. Modern applications include using leaf extracts for their antioxidant properties and circulatory support.

Hazelnuts are culinary treasures, eaten fresh, roasted, or ground into flour for gluten-free baking. Press into fragrant oil for salads and cooking. Young spring leaves can be fermented into wine. Catkins are edible when young and tender. Create hazelnut butter, praline, or the classic Nutella spread. The nuts store well when dried, providing protein-rich sustenance through winter. Smoke meats with hazel wood for delicate flavor enhancement.

Hazel supports over 70 insect species and provides critical early pollen for bees when catkins bloom in late winter. Dormice depend on hazelnuts for winter survival, while squirrels cache nuts throughout woodlands. The dense shrub layer offers nesting sites for birds and shelter for small mammals. Coppicing creates diverse age structures benefiting biodiversity. The leaves decompose quickly, enriching soil. Forms mycorrhizal relationships with truffles and other valuable fungi.

Multi-stemmed shrub or small tree reaching 4-8m height. Leaves are rounded-heart shaped with double-serrated edges and pointed tips, rough-textured and hairy. Male catkins appear as long, yellow, pendulous clusters in late winter before leaves emerge. Female flowers are tiny red tufts. Bark is smooth, grey-brown with visible lenticels. Nuts develop in clusters of 1-4, enclosed in leafy husks (involucres). Young twigs are hairy with prominent alternate buds.

Hazel poles from coppiced stools are prized for their flexibility and straight growth. Traditional uses include wattle-and-daub construction, hurdle making, and thatching spars. The wood splits cleanly for basket weaving and bent-wood furniture. Larger stems make excellent walking sticks, tool handles, and dowsing rods. Burns hot with little smoke, ideal for charcoal production. Modern applications include biomass fuel, garden stakes, and artist's charcoal. Coppice rotation typically 7-10 years.

Celtic mythology considered hazel the tree of wisdom, with salmon eating hazelnuts from the nine sacred trees gaining all knowledge. Forked hazel branches remain the dowser's tool of choice for finding water. Medieval lovers met under hazel trees for fertility blessings. The phrase 'going nutting' derives from autumn hazelnut gathering traditions. Vikings associated hazel with Thor. In Ireland, cutting down a hazel tree brought severe punishment as they were considered fairy trees.