(Common Filbert, Purpleleaf Contorted Filbert)

If you enjoy the four-season interest of Harry Lauder's walking stick ('Contorta'), 'Red Majestic' will give you amorous heart palpitations. Purpleleaf contorted filbert is an ornamental multi-stemmed shrub with vibrant foliage that is crinkled and purple when it first emerges, turns reddish purple in summer, and by fall transitions to glorious burgundy before falling away to reveal beautifully contorted branches. Its conspicuous male flowers, which are drooping purplish-burgundy catkins, bloom in...

(Common Filbert, Purpleleaf Filbert)

Purpleleaf filbert is an ornamental shrub to small tree with reddened foliage hailing from Europe and nearby Turkey. This plant is generally monoecious, which means that single plants have separate male and female flowers. Its conspicuous male flowers, which are drooping yellow catkins, bloom in late winter to early spring, before its leaves emerge. Tiny yellow female flowers appear at the same time and later generate edible hazelnut fruits.

Plant purpleleaf filbert in a fertile, well-drained...

(Common Filbert, Redleaf Filbert)

Prized for its delicious hard-shelled nuts, European filbert is a small tree to large shrub that originates from the whole of Europe as well as western Asia. Wild plants exist in open woods and hedgerows where they grow in a wide range of soil types. Hazelnuts have been in cultivation for thousands of years and many cultivars exist--most bred to produce high quality nut crops. The woody, oblong nuts ripen in mid to late autumn and are eaten by wildlife as well as people. The European filbert is the...

(Chinese Filbert, Chinese Hazel)

A walk into the highlands of China may reveal a rare glimpse of the Chinese filbert, which is a plant species vulnerable to extinction in the wild. Native to the moist woodlands of south-central China and into Tibet, this partially deciduous tree retains low branches and may sucker from its trunk. To maintain a classic tree silhouette, prune away suckers to reveal the mottled, fissured bark of the trunk. With old age, the bark pales to gray or white.

In spring, when foliage is emerging or fully...

(Turkish Filbert, Turkish Hazelnut)

Attractive leaves, exfoliating bark and curious-looking fruits that contain an edible nut are highlights of the Turkish filbert tree. Native to southeastern Europe and western Asia, it has a pyramid-like habit initially, but as it matures attains an upright oval silhouette. The brown bark chips and flakes off in small bits, adding to the ornamental interest, especially from fall to spring.

In very late winter, branches bear long pendent clusters of male flowers, called catkins. Small, easy-to-overlook...

(Chocolate Cosmos)

Native to sunny meadows and open areas of Mexico, this appealing perennial is valued for its long-lasting display of velvety, dark maroon flowers that indeed emit a delicate cocoa scent. Spreading slowly via tuberous roots, it possesses an upright, branching habit and is covered with fresh green, somewhat fern-like foliage. Wiry, burgundy stems support a profusion of lush, chocolate-red flowerheads with slightly darker centers which bloom generously from summer into fall.

Chocolate cosmos prefers...

(Common Cosmos, Mexican Aster)

Common cosmos is a tall, bushy, annual native to fields and open areas of Mexico. This showy species has yielded numerous cultivars throughout the years and has become a beautiful and well-known standby of summer gardens around the world.

Like many annuals, this favorite garden flower grows quickly from seed. Its branched stems are lined with feathery, finely divided, light to medium green leaves that are attractive in and of themselves. A profusion of showy daisies top the stems throughout...

(Common Cosmos, Early Wonder Mix Cosmos)

Common cosmos is a tall, bushy, annual native to fields and open areas of Mexico. This showy species has yielded numerous cultivars throughout the years and has become a beautiful and well-known standby of summer gardens around the world.

Like many annuals, this favorite garden flower grows quickly from seed. Its branched stems are lined with feathery, finely divided, light to medium green leaves that are attractive in and of themselves. A profusion of showy daisies top the stems throughout...

(Common Cosmos, Psyche Mix Cosmos)

Common cosmos is a tall, bushy, annual native to fields and open areas of Mexico. This showy species has yielded numerous cultivars throughout the years and has become a beautiful and well-known standby of summer gardens around the world.

Like many annuals, this favorite garden flower grows quickly from seed. Its branched stems are lined with feathery, finely divided, light to medium green leaves that are attractive in and of themselves. A profusion of showy daisies top the stems throughout...

(Common Cosmos)

Comprising a range of colors from the popular Sensation Series, this cosmos mixture offers multitudes of big, single, rosy-toned daisies on bushy, carefree plants throughout the summer. This strain was developed from a showy annual species native to fields and open areas of Mexico, and is notable for its earlier flowering habit.

Growing quickly from seed, the tall, many-branched stems of these plants are lined with feathery, very finely divided, light to medium green foliage. A profusion of...