Pollinator duo for a bountiful harvest of hazelnuts

This pair of hazelnut trees brings together two excellent varieties, renowned for their earliness and the quality of their hazelnuts. They will pollinate each other, resulting in a more abundant harvest in August-September. Hazelnut trees are very resistant bushes, not demanding in terms of soil and climate, and can be grown anywhere in Central Europe. They thrive equally well in shrub beds or in free hedges. Preferably plant them in autumn.

The pair consists of:

- x1 'Coutard's Fertile' Hazelnut Tree: a vigorous variety that bears fruit quickly, quite hardy and productive. It produces some of the largest hazelnuts in Europe. They are round, with ivory-white, firm flesh and a pleasant fragrance. Early but susceptible to frost, it is ideal to orient it to the north to delay flowering. This old Spanish variety has been cultivated in France since at least 1721, with the earliest recorded traces in literature.

- x1 'Bollwiller's Wonder' Hazelnut Tree: an early hazelnut variety that produces medium to large-sized nuts, elongated in shape with a well-filled shell. You can harvest the fruits from mid-August. This bush's production is regular and abundant.

In separate 4/5-liter pots, labeled separately.

The hazelnut tree, in Latin Corylus avellana, formerly known as the coudrier, belongs to the Betulaceae family. It is found naturally throughout Europe except in excessively dry and hot areas in the south, where it has become rare. With a slightly suckering stump, it produces 10 to 12 slender trunks and grows into a bushy clump that can reach up to 5 m (16ft) in height and 3 m (10ft) in width. Its brown bark can peel off in thin flakes. Its heart-shaped leaves are toothed with a pointed tip. The foliage is deciduous, falling in autumn. Monoecious, the hazelnut tree produces male flowers, yellowish, grouped in 6 cm (2in) catkins, and female flowers, very condensed, in erect spikes with red styles. The male catkins appear from the beginning of summer, blooming from mid-December to early March on bare branches, while the female flowers bloom in March-April, a few weeks after the male flowers. Their pollination is ensured by the wind.

Hazelnuts are generally grouped in small clusters of two or three fruits. Just before the fruit ripens, the shell appears. It hardens and changes color, while the kernel concentrates sugars, oil, and minerals. This ripening occurs in autumn, and harvesting takes place at the end of August and in September, when the hazelnuts easily detach from the branches.

Hazelnuts are consumed as dried fruits. They are also used in pastries and confectionery: grated into powder, crushed, roasted, or sliced into flakes. They are also used to extract oil, although it is prone to rancidity. This fruit is rich in omega-9, vitamin E, and vitamin B.

Spot the hazelnuts before the squirrel that frequents your garden does! It loves them! In a large free hedge, hazelnut trees can be paired with numerous shrubs such as European spindle trees, blackthorns, wild cherries, ornamental apple trees, male dogwoods, or serviceberries.