The woody shrub’s twisted branches make it a popular choice.
Rounded green leaves are serrated and slightly hairy.
Yellow catkins hanging from the branches create quite a show in the late winter or early spring.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
The ‘Contorta’ variation was discovered during the mid-1800s in England.
Winter and spring are the best seasons for this shrub.
This plant offers no fall-foliage color of note.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
This slow-growing shrub is normally planted from balled-and-burlapped specimens or container plants in fall or spring.
It has very good tolerance for alkaline soils.
However, if the soil structure or nutrition is not ideal, dig in organic amendments before planting.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Water
Contorted filbert needs about one inch of water per week during the growing season.
However, excessive water can cause the roots to rot, especially in heavy dense soils.
Frequent watering is more important when the shrubs are young.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Temperature and Humidity
This sturdy hedge shrub tolerates a wide range of temperature and humidity conditions.
Inspect the shrub monthly for suckers, which you should remove immediately.
Be judicious and conservative with trimming, as this is a slow-growing shrub that will require time to recover.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
To train the plant as a small tree, cut away the lower branches, leaving a central trunk.
americana.contorted filbert is difficult to propagate.
Neither the seeds nor the root suckers can be reproduced true to the original plant.
Overwintering
Contorted filbert is hardy toUSDA cold hardiness zone4 and does not need any winter protection.
If not treated, it eventually kills the plant.
Occasional disease problems includeblack knot, crown gall, apple mosaic virus, and leaf spot.
Affected branches should be removed and destroyed, but viruses, in particular, are very hard to treat.
Leaf spots can be treated with fungicides.
Scale insects and Japanese beetles can attack the plant.
To control the scale,spray with organic Neem oilat the first sign of their presence.
Japanese beetles are easily picked off by hand and drowned in a bucket of soapy water.
Inspect the shrub carefully if you have other filberts growing nearby that could infect it.
The female flowers are nondescript.
It produces nuts but they are usually eaten by wildlife.
Contorted filbert is mainly grown as an ornamental shrub.
Contorted Filbert: A Gnarly Problem Plant.Purdue Landscape Report, 14 Sept. 2021.
