Small Hazel Flower - As Discussed With Dr Bob

I've never looked either Dawn we miss so much dont we?

We do Drc, I agree. It hadnt thought how they pollinated to produce nuts until Dr Bob put a photo up.

ive just bought a corkscrew hazel.....

Wow Dawn , I shall be first to rush out in the morning to see If there are any on mine ..lol...

I hope you have some Amy, have you noticed them in the past?
Holly: I have a corkscrew hazel too - I find them fascinating.

thanks Dawn.learnt something new today.

Dawn, this is a great photo, as you saw from my photo yesterday our poor female flowers down here are really struggling, very much behind yours, I haven't seen any as good as yours, so I don't think we will have any nuts this year to supplement the diet of the squirrels. I'm glad you gained some information from my photo. Another point such a difference between humans where the females put on a bigger display than males, and in animals you have the male foxes putting on a show with their brushes and the cockerels with their combs.

Well I never!! That's amazing Dawn....not noticed them before either........:o)

Hi Bob, glad you like it and thanks so much for the information - some of the young oaks have brown kind of marbles on them too - maybe you can identify those Bob and I've also seen pink flowers on the larch.
Janey: I've seen your lovely photos of the hazel trees - no doubt you'll be taking a closer look next time.

The brown marbles are oak apples Dawn, made by the oak apple gall and the flowers on the larch are the start of the cones for this year.

I will Dawn.....:o)

I haven't noticed them before Dawn , I will be out there looking in the morning , I didn't know they had flowers !

Bob, you are so knowledgeable, thanks for the info, I've done a quick google and the apples have a wasp's larvae inside, is that right?
Good luck Janey, I hope you find some flowers.

Hello Amy :-) I hope you find some. Its amazing isnt it, we have these things in the garden and we dont even know it, I'm so pleased Bob highlighted this.

Wow Dawn Its the 1st time I have seen them too arent they pretty......

Hello my friend, they are so so tiny, no wonder we've all missed them in the past.

First time I've seen them too, you're right Dawn you learn something new everyday on this site,going out to look at mine tomorrow :-)

It's another TT Dawn, Trans Terminalis thats the trouble, the flies appear in May and lay their eggs on the buds of the acorn and when they hatch the grubs damage the growth of the acorn and make the galls which swell, they pupate and fly off in August. The galls ripen and become brown and dry. You can see many old ones in oak trees.

Hi Simbad, thanks to Dr Bob, or we wouldnt even have known these flowers existed, hope you find some too.
Oh Bob, thanks for the info on the oak galls, I find it fascinating. So the marbles are damaged acorns. I have lots of these, I often wondered what they were. Thank you.

Just checked my pics Dawn....and yes there they are just about to emerge!!

Dawn, I see I made a mistake, August should have been April. It's past my bedtime. Lol.

Dawn, hope this year you'll have your hazelnuts crop! The male and female flowers look good! :)

Thanks Bob.
So pleased you have flowers too Janey :-)
If I get lots of nuts, I'll send some over Uma but dont get too excited, the squirrels usually beat us to them.

We live and learn don't we.......

We have many nuts here every year, and there are not so many squirrels as you have. :)

We do Dotty!
Uma - you just have lots of catkins and flowers to have lots of nuts.

going straight down the garden to look Dawn-- i'll let you know if i find any!

interesting Dawn-- I've always said we're later on this hill, the catkins are there but not open yet and just behind is a tiny bud which on one is just showing red, but when I looked at the grey alder that was out much more with tiny flowers behind! feel as if I need my glasses on all the time now ! :0)

Hi Pam, maybe you wont have to wait long for the flower to come out.
You've intrigued me now with the alder - I have lots of alder and I didnt know they had flowers - how exciting, its dark now or I'd go and look. So what am I looking for Pam - a similar set up to the hazel? Catkins and flowers?

Hi Dawn mine is Alnus incana-- Grey alder and its catkins are longer than the hazel and two or three odd looking red buds opening similar to the hazel but a bit bigger, the trees in this area were planted for the millenium and for the first time last autumn we had three hazelnuts but they disappeared as we rarely see a squirrel I think that they must have dropped off :o)

Hi Pam
Ours are just the common alder, Alnus glutinosa but they always have lots of catkins and seeds for the gold finches. I will be out there tomorrow with my camera! We set all our trees in 2002 and we didnt get hazel nuts until a couple of years ago, not many but a few - well we found the shells, lol. Thanks for the alder info Pam, much appreciated.

Remembered to look at my catkins today Dawn, a few of mine have flowers too:-), aren't they tiny, you must have a pretty good camera to pick up such detail.
Our hazel were planted in 1999 Dawn, first time we'd had nuts last year too only a few, part of the outline planning permission, wood had to be extended to block the view of our house from the hotel over the road!!!!!!!!!, so were planted before we bought the plot, just tiny twigs, really grown now.

Hi Kathy, glad yours have tiny flowers too, yes my camera has a good zoom :-)
Dont Councils make you laugh - we've been told we shouldnt lower a conifer hedge adjacent to our garage. All our trees were just whips Kathy (excpect for the larch and corsican pines), it is amazing how quick they grow.
Well all I can say is: catkins + flowers = nuts. Let's hope.
I look at our alder tress today but I can tsee any flowers on them. The catkins are there but not quite mature yet, I'll keep checking.

Certainly do Dawn we had no end of problems when we built this, wasn't laughing at the time, had to alter so many petty things, even had Rob stood with a pole at one point to make sure it wasn't higher than the bungalow next door, (had to look like a bungalow from the front), which it does but still found things to pick at, said our balconies made it look too grand!!!!! but we got them in the end because we kept the full length windows, which they couldn't stop us doing, so we had to have them for safety, have to be as crafty as them, went to many meetings with our architect, took a lot for me to keep my mouth shut I can tell you,seem to have become more lax as they've gone along as the last house doesn't even look like a bungalow its a house, think we got all the hastle because we were the first ones to build, I'm ranting now,lol, always gets me going when I think about the problems we had,sorry.
Surely they can't stop you lowering a conifer hedge, although wouldn't surprise me !!!!!!!

Hi Dawn i've got one to ,, I took a photo today , it's not very clear but you can see it , I'll put it on for you .. :o))

Brilliant Amy, I'll take a look :-))))
You were bound to have one if I have, he hee