Almond vs. Hazelnut?

I see hazelnut as a very popular permaculture design element, but not so much the almond tree. At our house in the Portland, Oregon area, in partial shade, we want to do some nut tree guilds... would you say Almond or Hazelnut? why?

From what I understand, Hazelnuts will take a lot more shade then Almonds. Hazelnuts also will take more cold.

I think hazelnuts are more native than almonds (depending on where you live.) I'm not sure, but I live in Canada and I know that hazelnuts will grow better here than almonds!

If you get temperatures below -5 C regularly in winter, forget about almonds..they bloom in february, need bees and of course no frost then..

I agree about the almonds, I planted some before realizing our late frosts would pretty much guarantee no nuts. Hazelnuts seem like a better bet, certainly in your area they should do beautifully.

If you like both, do both..Almonds are a regular TREE which could be the center of a guild..and Hazelnuts are more of a spreading shrub..which would do well below the almond or another tree in another guild..

I have both here..my Almond hasn't born nuts yet as we had late frost that killed the blossoms last year, but it should this year..I had my first hazelnut crop this year and they were delicious.

They are not in the same guild as the almond is in front of my house and the hazels are way out back, 6 in a row..

I have also put in sweet chestnuts, hickory, and several kinds of walnuts (black, butternut, carpathian and heartnuts)..I love nuts.

all were babies in the past 4 years.

the hazelnuts bore the earliest.

Sweet. Thank you guys. Very helpful. If we have the space we might try both, but I think our space is too limited and will likely just stick with 2 hazelnut tree based guilds.

Hazelnut is a very disease resistant nut tree / bush. But the nuts are a little small. You might want to try a Hazelbert hybrid. It is a cross between hazelnut and filbert. The filbert has bigger nuts but it is more disease susceptible. I think you get too much rain in Portland for almond. It demands a very dry environment. In eastern Oregan it would do ok, but I doubt Portland.

hands down I would get a hazelnut hybrid from onegreenworld.com - especially if you are in Oregon and can get a big one from them - im envious. I ordered mine thru St Lawrence to ensure hardniess but yeah for SURE skip that almond you wont get good crops even if it lives...unless you have a super warm microclimate. Enjoy it and pick them before the animals lol