The delicacy of the dusky-pink catkins that drape the stems of this hazel camouflages their resilience. They adorn the shrub from December to March through gales, frosts, snow and rain, always looking bright and bonny. The foliage, when it appears, is deep purple-red and, unlike other dark-leaved hazels, remains a glowing purple colour into the autumn. The nuts are also covered in a velvety purple sheath. All this would be enough to earn the plant a prime position in any garden but it also has, once mature, a deeply fissured, corky bark. The catkins grow in March and the nuts appear in August and September. The species is indigenous to Turkey and grows best in full sun or dappled shade.
Height and Spread up to 5m x 3m. After seven years mine is 2m tall