On 27/08/2018 19:59, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

I don't know how many times I've told people that plants *can't* read books!

Yes :-) A hell of a lot of "received wisdom" is repeated without being
checked, so one error lasts for ages.

FWIW, both "Hilliers Manual of Trees and Shrubs" and the "RHS Dictionary
of Gardening" state that Corylus avellana is usually a shrub to 20ft/6m
or, more rarely, a tree to 35ft/10m in height.

These are VERY much shrubs, and is just over 10 metres. The conditions
are such that it doesn't totally flabberghast me that they are larger
than usual, but I was wondering whether this was unusual or the books
were just plain wrong.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

as has been said, plants do what ever they feel like.
I remember seeing a catalogue describing Silver Birch as an elegant tree
to 10 ft.
I think that often the writers don't want to frighten off potential
customers