It is interesting to see the hazelnut’s male catkins forming at the same time the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees. I will usually start seeing the first catkins opening up and releasing their pollen sometime in January. The female flowers are the small, red stigmas that you see protruding from a bud. The flowers are wind pollinated and need to be from a separate, compatible, pollinating variety.
You can see the delicate splash of yellow leaves from the hazelnut trees in the forest above the White Oak Pavilion.
I have a hazelnut tree in my yard. If there is a sunny, warm afternoon and the catkins are open, I will sometimes see my honeybees foraging some of the pollen.
