American hazelnut (#1)

Bare root seedlings, 1 year old. Very limited amount for the 2024-25 season. American hazelnut is a wind-pollinated shrub and fruiting is best when several shrubs are planted in close proximity.

This year we have a few different seed sources: Virginia-sourced, Feralwood select, and Riverwalk select

Feralwood select: These originate from plantings within the Feralwood project. These plantings consist mostly of seedlings grown from selections by Kenny Asmus of Oikos Tree Crops and Osker Brown of Glorious Forest Farm. Selected for heavy yields. Nuts pictured in the image represent the seed nuts collected to grow Feralwood select, from the two highest yielding shrubs in the Feralwood planting.

Riverwalk select: These originate from wild plants in Black Mountain, NC growing along the edge of a thicket at a location called the Riverwalk. Selected for high yields of large nuts. This combination of high yields and larger than typical nuts is hard to find. This selection strikes one of the best balances of plant yield/nut size that I have come across. (There are some promising specimens in the Feralwood plantings, as more plantings began to bear nuts!)