Nut seeds - grow familiar and unusual nut species

What exactly is a nut?

In everyday language, many edible kernels are called nuts, but botanically they belong to very different fruit types. The hazelnut is a true nut, the almond is a stone fruit and the peanut is a legume. What they mainly have in common is this: the edible part is the seed or kernel of the fruit.

For the garden, this botanical classification is less important than the question of how the particular plant grows. While peanuts are cultivated as annual herbaceous plants, hazelnut, walnut, almond or sweet chestnut develop into long-lived woody plants.

From seed to nut tree

Sowing nut trees and shrubs shows especially vividly how a single seed can become a large plant over many years. In walnut, hazelnut or sweet chestnut, even the young seedling is noticeably stronger than in many other garden plants and gradually develops into a shrub or tree.

This is precisely where the special appeal lies: anyone who sows nut seeds accompanies the plant from the very beginning and experiences its development over a long period of time. Some species grow quickly, while others require considerably more patience before they reach their final size.

Hazelnut, walnut and other classics

Hazelnut is one of the best-known nut-bearing woody plants for the garden. It usually grows as a large, multi-stemmed shrub and needs significantly less space than a mature walnut tree. Walnut trees, by contrast, can become very large over the years and develop a broad crown.

Sweet chestnuts and almonds are also classic shell fruits. However, they have higher demands in terms of location and climate. Sweet chestnuts prefer rather warm sites and suitable soils, while almonds can be particularly at risk from late frosts because of their early flowering.

Unusual nut species for curious gardeners

Alongside the familiar species, there are also less common nuts and shell fruits to discover. Bladdernut, for example, is a traditional woody plant with striking fruit capsules containing hard seeds. Hickory, heartnut and other walnut relatives also show just how diverse this group of plants can be.

Such species are especially interesting for larger gardens, collections and anyone who enjoys getting to know plants that are not found in every orchard.

Peanuts also belong in this category

The peanut differs fundamentally from most other plants in this category. It is not a nut in the botanical sense and does not grow on a tree or shrub. Arachis hypogaea is an annual legume whose fertilised flower stalks bend down into the soil after flowering. There, the familiar peanut pods develop.

It therefore beautifully illustrates how different plants can be that we group together in everyday language under the term nuts.

Nut trees need space and patience

Anyone growing a nut tree from seed should already think about its later size at sowing time. Hazelnuts can become shrubs several metres high and wide, while walnuts and sweet chestnuts can grow into large trees. The final location should therefore be chosen carefully.

It may also take some time until the first harvest. Nut trees and shrubs grown from seed often bear much later than grafted varieties. Especially with walnut or sweet chestnut, several years may pass before the first fruits develop.

Nut trees from seed are genetically unique

A walnut, hazelnut or almond does not automatically produce a plant with exactly the same characteristics as the mother plant. Through sexual reproduction, each seedling has a new combination of genetic traits.

The later plant may therefore differ in growth, fruit size, taste, ripening time or yield. Anyone looking for a specific variety with predictable characteristics is better advised to choose a vegetatively propagated plant. Anyone who enjoys natural diversity and the development of an individual plant, however, will find the special appeal precisely in sowing from seed.