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Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
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Harry Lauder's Walking Stick

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick reaches a height of 8'-10', and its width can be about the same. The flowers of Harry Lauder's Walking Stick are yellowish-brown "catkins," as on pussy willows. The blooms appear in early to middle spring. However, this shrub isn't really grown for its blooms, but for its unusual branching pattern like its contorted and twisted branches. Supposedly the shrub derived its name from a Scottish comedian, Harry Lauder, who used a crooked branch as a cane during his performances.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick is a specimen plant, which means that it is used for ornamental effect, rather than being massed with others. Specimen plants serve as focal points in landscape design. The corkscrew shape of its branches lends itself to interest in the winter landscape.

Harry Lauder's Walking Stick is also known as corkscrew filbert and contorted hazelnut. As you can see from the picture above and the close up of the contorted branches to the right, its branches contort themselves in every which way, resembing corkscrews. Harry Lauder's Walking Stick does best grown iin well-drained soil, in full sun to part shade. It is a grafted shrub with its rootstock being Corylus colurna. Grafted plants have a tendency for suckers to shoot up from the rootstock. So, you must prune off these suckers so that the plant doesn't revert back to the characteristics of the rootstock. I make a practice of pruning mine in late spring and late fall every year so that the suckers don't overtake the shrub.