Time to join TreeAnon. Are there 'branches' in UK? LOL

I have about a dozen corylus colurna, but they are all one or two years old and tiny. If I could buy them that cheap, in that size, I wouldn't mess with nuts. They grow so slowly that I probably will have to wait ten years until I reach that size, lol

I have started seeing C colurna quite a bit recently. It seems to be getting more common. I first noticed it as a tall street tree in Chelsea. I spotted the nuts husks on the pavement and looked up. I didn't know what it was so wrote to the local council who, amazingly, responded promptly with the name.

Does get big but doesn't have to be watered after establishment - streets here are being planted with it also

They can be used as root stock if you want a hazel tree. Just graft some nice hazel cultivar at eight feet on the colurna trunk, or what height you might like.

I don't understand the shame...none of us are going to live forever.

Campanula, I so enjoy the way you write!

It is a mea culpa really, David, because I am guilty of being ever so slightly (as if) snotty and superior about raising stuff from seed. Of course, this is complete drivel since I am at the nurseries spending like a maniac as much as anyone.

i see no downside to having two ...

one is an experiment ... starting with seeds.. or a tiny babe ...

the other is more of an instant gratification ... lets get a good sized one going ...

they serve two different projects .. or goals...

you have plenty of space... i see no shame ...

ken

I know exactly what you mean Campanula. I feel guilty buying plants - if I haven't grown it from seed or a cutting or rescued it from the reject shelf it feels like cheating. Instant gratification is ingrained as being just wrong. But then I like the processes of gardening much more than the collecting and possessing aspects.

My friend has an old one. It's awesome!

I have to say too that there were a lot of great/hilarious comments all-around!

Dax

Shame, Campanula, shame! As for me, I learned to live with shame a long time ago...

Here's a relatively young C. colurna specimen growing at Klehm's Arboretum in Rockford, Il, which I visited this weekend. This is just one of a few botanical surprises in this city that has been beat down over the years by the vagaries of capitalism, but it is fighting back and I would recommend visiting if you get the chance. It also has Anderson Japanese Gardens, which is supposedly the 2nd rated Japanese garden in the U.S. I don't know how that is determined, but it was definitely worth my time...and money.

There would be no shame in buying a nice specimen of this native, if only I could find one. I do have two tiny seedlings that are painfully slow.

got one of those red buckeyes.....blooming now its about 3 feet tall

Cheers, Maackia. Yeah, it's hard...but I am learning to cope (smirk). On a non-tree note, the household members gave me some severe hard-eye when I rocked up with a rubus I had been craving - r.thibetanus 'Silver Fern'. Frankly, I don't understand the fuss - it's not as if I had traipsed in with r.cockburnianus (or the plant substitute for barbed wire). Already have just the spot, in front of a gloomy yew hedge...and will (obviously) need to acquire a Himalayan birch (or 2) to carry on with the ghostly stem theme.Those b.utilis (and to a lesser extent, b.septentrionalis) always look good as multi-stemmed specimens...and this is certainly how I plan on growing them.

There are a few US trees which have really caught my eye - it is slightly mystifying that they are not more popular in the UK - specifically the buckeyes and also the hickories. Might it be a case of not enough summer heat (as with lagerstroemias)?

Buying trees simply means supporting other industry practitioners. Shame? I don't get that. And that's coming from me-a big species guy.

"And that's coming from me-a big species guy."

Does that mean something like A. pavia would be out of the question? ;)