and you don't say where you're located.

I think you'll need to be in CA but what great nuts.

so, yeah,

int he spring when they bloom, are self pollinating and so you only need one.

with a little warm micro-climate. maybe there is one that i can get away with. they have to be dwarf or dwarfable.

Hazelnuts are small. Almonds are about 25'...I think Hazelnuts are too. Hazelnut is probably a great choice. I have been toying with beaked hazelnut and decided that I would add that to my woodland tree planting and put the American in the garden. The beaked is gorgeous with its early spring long golden catkins.

Juglans cinerea. it's native to the NE including your area. It can get pretty big but I have nuts on one at 20 feet. The fatal flaw might be that it fights with tomatoes (if you plant it near a garden area).

Awesome nutmeat milder than Black Walnut.

Cheerio!

But they get enormous. Filberts would be far more pragmatic for smaller spaces. If you do filberts, you MUST get varieties immune to Eastern Filbert Blight. Non-resistant varieties are about 100% guaranteed to die when they reach a good bearing size.