Hazel Hedging (Corylus)

Pre-Order Bareroot Hazel For 2025/26 Winter Planting Season

What is Hazel Hedging?

Common Hazel, Corylus avellana, is the most is the third most popular native plant for farm and country conservation hedge mixes, after Hawthorn and Blackthorn. 

Corylus maxima Hazel varieties, usually known as Filberts, are equally good hedge plants, however, they cost a bit more and aren't true natives. 

Purple Leaf Filbert Hazel has the most ornamental foliage, a great choice for garden hedges.

For nut production, buy the Cosford Cob in larger sizes, on a short leg tree stem. Very popular with home growers.

Hazel is deciduous, very tough and vigorous, with dense growth from the base when maintained as a hedge.

It grows pretty much anywhere in the UK, apart from by the sea and brackish water.

When coppiced and grown as a large shrub / multi-stem tree, its upright, straight stems have many uses, and are a traditional binding material for hedge laying.

• Uses: Informal and stock-friendly native hedges from 100cm upwards. Harvesting hazelnuts. Coppice for wood.
• Good Points: Edible nuts, vigorous, lovely catkins in late Winter, forms a dense thicket, very easy to lay a hazel hedge. C. avellana is native. 
• Position: Anywhere except on the coast. Shade-tolerant, happy in any soil from wet clay to dry chalk. For nut production, mid-to-poorly fertile soil and full sun is better.

Spacing a Hazel Hedge: How many plants do I need per metre?

The planting density for your Hazel hedge depends on the purpose:

• Normal garden boundary hedge: 3 plants per metre, spaced at 33cm, in a single row.
• Stock-proof country hedge: 6 plants per metre, in a double row (i.e. start one single row 16.5cm after the other), with 40cm between rows.  
• Decorative hedge within your garden: 2 plants per metre, spaced at 50cm, in a single row.
  
   

What size Hazel hedge plants should I buy?

By default, we recommend the smaller sizes, especially for large orders.

• 40/60cm tall is the minimum size required for Countryside Stewardship grant hedges.
• 60/80cm tall is a great compromise between price and size.
• Buy larger plants, over 80cm tall, if you need instant height, are filling gaps in an existing hedge, or simply do not want to wait for a mature hedge!

Smaller plants:

• Are cheaper
• Easier to plant
• Easier to clip to make a bushy hedge from the base
• Establish best on average
• Catch less wind in exposed locations

Your mail order hazel hedge plants are delivered by next working day courier.

If there is anything wrong with your plants when they arrive, Contact Us within 5 working days, and our friendly support team will sort it out.

All bareroot plants are covered by our Refund Guarantee, so you can give them a whirl with complete confidence.

What is the Difference Between Cobnuts and Filberts?

Both are names for hazelnuts, and as is often the case with common names, their local use varies. 

As a broad generalisation: 

• Cobnut was the name for Common Hazel, Corylus avellana, it applies especially to varieties cultivated for nut production.
  
  It was typically used for hazelnuts with short husks, called involucre, that only cover the nut, or leave the base of the nut exposed.
• Filbert was the common name for Corylus maxima and its cultivars. 
  
  It was typically used for hazelnuts with long husks (involucre) that extend past the base of the nut, forming a skirt or beard.

In the East of England, however, Cobnut meant Filbert; at the start of the 1800's, a Corylus maxima type known locally as the 'Kentish Cob' was formally named 'Lambert's Filbert'.  

Is Hazel a Good Hedge Plant by Itself?

Yes, Hazel is a good hedge plant by itself: 

• Dense growth from the base
• Thrives on wet soil and in the shade 
• Flexible wood is easy to lay when regenerating an old hedge
• Even more vigorous than the two most popular native hedge plants, Hawthorn and Blackthorn.

Pure hazel hedges are traditional in some areas, but since hazel is thornless, boundary hedges are usually mixed with thorny species.

Countryside Stewardship Hedge Grants 

If your hedge is being planted in an area where all Hazel hedges are traditional, you can declare that in your grant application. 

In most of the UK, Countryside Stewardship hedges require a mix of at least two native species, in a ratio not worse than 70:30.

• So, a Hazel hedge mixed 70:30 with Hawthorn or Blackthorn is the simplest combination that meets the requirements. 

Coppicing Hazel for Wood

Hazel has three main uses, either as country hedging, or growing with a single trunk for the nuts, or coppicing for wood.

• Hazel's sticks are upright, flexible, strong, useful around the garden
• Larger wood harvested at longer intervals is decent firewood
• It's a vigorous plant that performs well in the shade and soggy ground, useful in the least favourable spots.

Coppiced hazel trees won't be useful for nut production.

Growing Hazel for Nuts

All the hazel varieties that you buy from us produce nuts, but their size and quality of wild Hazel hedge plants will vary.

The Cosford Cob is the only cultivated variety we sell. It's grown on a "short leg" or bush stem, which produces a manageable, "open cup" shaped tree that lets light into the centre.

Note that rich, fertile soil is not good for harvesting hazels, which produce the best nuts on well drained, rocky or poor soil.