"mikey mike" wrote in message
...
corylus avellana contorta - or so it says on the label !

we've had it since february, and it has grown one 'new' branch - but the
new
branch it straight - what should we do, leave it or lop it ?

Lop it!
They chuck out quite a few straight branches and these always grow faster.
We had one in the garden when we moved here - except the plonker we bought
the house from had been cutting out all the corkscrews because he thought
the plant was diseased!
It took a lot of savage lopping to restore it - but now we have a fabulous
shrub.