The Hornbeam tree is native to Britain and is most suited to being pleached. Pleaching is the ancient art of training the young hornbeam trees to be grown on stilted stems or tall clear trunks with the foliage kept in a squared shape on top above head height. Once shaped into form, hornbeams are not difficult to maintain. Today pleached hornbeams are used to great effect in contemporary gardens to provide height and elegance while taking up minimal ground space. Pleached Hornbeams are ideal for creating garden rooms, providing a green screen above head height, delineating pathways or guiding the eye towards a particular focal point or view.
The Hornbeam is a dense, hardy hedging plant. Although deciduous, Hornbeam leaves will generally keep their form over the harshest winter months turning a lovely copper colour. They will then go on to produce dark/mid-green dense bushy foliage in the summer months. With a slow to medium growth rate, Hornbeams prefer full sun or partial shade in a garden design. They cope well with windy positions and can be grown in heavy clay soils.
Hornbeams were the perfect choice for the entertaining courtyard at our North Fitzroy garden design project. We can’t wait to see how the canopy forms over the years to come.
