Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick

 

Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick

                        Corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’)

The nuts grow singly or in clusters of two to four.

I often find myself singing Randy Newman’s ‘It’s a jungle out there’ as I struggle out of the front door. However, today, Barry has set to and cleared much of the rampant greenery, so that, tomorrow, the grocery delivery can be accomplished without the aid of a machete.

                                Enchanting lambs' tails in spring

Directly opposite the front door is Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, a twisted hazel tree now more recognisably known by the name of Corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’)

I wrote about it here.

Many of the corkscrew twigs were sacrificed for the greater good of delivery personnel everywhere. I doubt the nuts will ripen, but they may. Cobnuts are delicious – soft and sweet!

The squirrels love the nuts and carry them everywhere, not always for immediate consumption, so that we have small thickets popping up in odd places where they have cached them.

My parents gave us this tree not long after we moved into this house. We’ve lived here fifty years and the tree must have been several years old when it came to us, so it is now a splendid specimen, though not at its optimum height of five metres (sixteen point four feet) as we trim it twice every year. It also throws up straight stems, or suckers, which have to be cut out. Corkscrew hazel is usually grafted onto a straight hazel rootstock. The suckers can take over, and then the tree will no longer ‘contort.’

               'untimely ripped from' the tree  (apologies to Shakespeare!)

I smiled at the information I found on the website, ‘Treesonline,’ some of which I have copied and pasted below.

Considered slow growing so it will take its sweet time getting to the expected 5-metre height over 10-20 years. Can be left alone to twist and contort as a specimen tree or trained along a trellis. Due to the twisting nature of the tree, expect it to be a little naughty and grow where it wants to so you will need to keep an eye on it and tuck it back into your trellis work. Time outs, not allowing it to watch TV and stopping pocket money are all methods that are completely ineffective in training your tree.’

Once Corylus Avellana 'Contorta' drops its leaves in Autumn, it will reveal its very interesting twisted shape. Considered fully UK winter hardy (unless we have no Jet stream from the USA whatsoever and we get temperatures less than minus 15-degree centigrade, you know how possessive those Americans can be). Just before Spring expect it to burst into life with catkins making a stunning appearance. These form into edible nuts.

Corylus Avellana 'Contorta' Aka Harry Lauders Walking Stick has so many outstanding properties that the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society not right-hand side for those not in the know) have given it the AGM (Award of Garden Merit, not Annual General Meeting....ah the joy of acronyms)

Be prepared to open the box and think your tree is poorly! Not quite your average sales pitch but this is perfectly normal and part of the charm of the tree. The whole tree including the leaves are contorted and twisted (maybe the clue was in the name!)

I love this tree at all seasons of the year. It is a reminder, should I need one, of my parents, and my Kentish childhood.