this is how the plant look when it has no leaf, i took this pictures from google image, i dont have a picture of mine. we own a lot in a recreational place two hours from chicago. and that is where this plants are. i was told the name was walking stick and that is how i name it. also i have heard the name is harry lauder's walking stick or jacobs walking stick. to tell you the truth i dont know. i just can tell you is a very interesting plant, different. can be kept at any hight...as a bush...or just to let it grow and it grows as high as 20 ft in winter i cut few dry branches and use them as part of my flowers arrangements inside the house, or just spray paint them and put them in a big base to decorate. mine is in full sun but i have a neightbor that has them in part shade and tis is all information i have about this plant. susy

a shrub should NEVER be pruned at the tips .... you need a good tutorial on pruning .... in a nutshell .. up to 1/3 of the plant should be removed from the center .... as close to the ground as possible ... this reduces the shear size.. and invigorates the plant .... and it resprouts from the bottom ... it is basically a form of bonsai ... and should be done annually ... the only caveat .. would be that this is probably a grafted plant.. and you do NOT want it to sprout from below the graft.. or it will probably be a plain old filbert ... straight as an arrow ... all that said.. it also sounds like the wrong plant in the wrong place .... i have seen one at least 10 to 15 feet high ... able to walk under it ... and 10 to 15 wide ... perhaps.. there is a better plant for the front door ... good luck ken

For the posters who say they see rows of bumps, that is likely the blight mentioned by anitamo and ken. The symptoms are the double rows of bumps and a loss of leaves. If you go out in early spring (early March here in PA), you will see small pink nodes on the branches. This is the ripe fungus. If you cut the branch, you will notice the brown from the dead wood starts on one side and eventually girdles the branch. The side it starts on is usually a flat spot on the otherwise rounded branch. I've had 2 of these nice trees. One I grew from seed I got after taking some catkins from another HLWS tree and pollinated mine. Since these bloom well after the normal Corylus avellana, you can't pollinate them with those. Anyway, I got small plants not grafted. They grew slowly for about 5 years old and then started dying. By this time the parent plant was also taken by the blight. I no longer have any, but lust after the nice ones I see sometimes.

Theresa, I'm rather behind in this discussion. My Harry Lawder had actually developed a nice canopy in early summer, however at the height of summer, the leaves began to curl and dry off. It was facing a southeast location. So lots of sun. As for watering, I also watered well and regularly. This did not explain the phenomenon I'd observed of curling leaves. The leaves were looking healthy for most parts except for the very edges. Leaves directly exposed to teh sun showed the most damage. I noted the leaves that weren't so exposed to teh sun remained uncurled which is why I drew the conclusion that this plant wasn't set in the right location. Also in walks in old neighborhoods downtown, I've observed healthy Harry Lawders growing beneath the canopy of healthy tall trees such as sugar maples. Since transplanting my plant to a shadier location, the plant has thrived. By the way, this Harry Walker started off with purple leaves which gradually turned green. It is possible that we are describing 2 different varietiew which could explain why your observation differs from my experience.