Pleached Hornbeams – Another of our specialities

We still produce our unique, full pleached hornbeams (Carpinus betulus), grown in containers for year round planting. These trees have an approximate height of 4 metres. They have been formatively pruned resulting in a width of approx 1.5 metres but a depth of only 50cm, so these trees don’t encroach into the neighbouring garden when used as a boundary planting. We find this method of training produces a good, dense screen (we don’t use a frame).

If desired the lower branches can be removed to create the traditional ‘hedge on stilts’. This is often done to show off a lovely stone wall or to facilitate underplanting.

Where the boundary is defined by a wooden fence, many of our customers prefer to retain the lower branches to provide greenery in front of their fence. This also negates the extra work involved with underplanting – the choice is yours!

Carpinus betulus (pleached hornbeam), container grown, approx 4 metres tall with a trunk girth of 20 -25cm.