When we moved here, we were excited to see we had a grove of Hazelnuts. They were small, it took forever to pick them and even longer to shell them. They also suckered, making planting around them almost impossible. I finally (this was years ago, when I was a tough chick) grubbed them out and planted a Yellow Wood ( Cladrastis kentukea (although my tag reads lutea)) and some hostas.

Interesting that american hazelnuts spread so much! Where my mother lives (in France) the european one is growing everywhere, and there are several in the yard. They do produce suckers, but really close the existing branches and the footprint of each grove is pretty much the same as it was 30 years ago...
I have so many nice memories as a child/teen going out to pick hazelnuts/walnuts, coming home and then sitting in the yard with some rocks to bash open the nuts. Hickory nuts are new to me, never heard of them!

I bought a contorted hazelnut when I first moved into the old place, but it died. At least the contorted part did, but the plant regrew from the rootstock. If I lived there another year or two I might have won the war against it!

Fond memories of my grandmother taking me mushroom and hickory hunting in the fall.

My aunt put so many layers of clothes on me, I could hardly waddle. No mosquito spray back then. Huckleberries and mushrooms.

very interesting post/thread