Carpinus betulus

This lovely tree produces extremely strong wood which was once used by the Romans to build chariots and now used in chopping blocks. Dark green ovate sharply-toothed leaves turn yellow-orange in autumn before holding its rich fawn-brown leaves all winter. This 40-60' tree makes an excellent shade tree or hedge. S-PSh/M

The European Hornbeam is a tough an easily grown hardwood that often develops an attractive multi-trunk form. It develops a naturally even form without any pruning and is very low-maintenance, once established it is drought tolerant and grows in a wide variety of soils. However it does not like consistently wet soils.

European Hornbeam is a favorite hedge choice in the US and Europe. It is easy to grow and responds well to pruning into a hedge. It is deciduous but will sometimes hold its winter leaves for an extended period for extra screening. It adds beautiful texture to the landscape. It is a great choice for areas with heavy, poorly-draining soil. It is also shade tolerant.

The densely branched Pyramidal European Hornbeam is columnar when young and grows into its stately namesake shape as it ages, up to 80 feet tall where it is native in Europe and Central Asia. The tree has a distinctive fluted gray bark and sharply-toothed dark green foliage that turns yellow-orange in autumn. Planted in groups, it works perfectly as a screen or windbreak and can work equally well as a formal hedge with hard pruning. It’s best pruned during the late summer to mid-winter period, when significant bleeding can be avoided. In Europe, it is a popular tree for pleaching, a kind of large-scale topiary gardening where trees are grown together in a natural form of interwoven grafting. This became a common gardening practice in the medieval era, when the tree was celebrated for its shade-producing qualities. In fact the hornbeam has been in cultivation for such a long time there is no noted date of introduction. However, it was introduced to North America sometime during the colonial era. The common ‘hornbeam’ name is due to the tree’s extremely hard wood, which will take on a horn-like smooth polish, and was once widely used in Europe to make oxen yokes, the wide beam between the animal’s horns. The tree grows easily in medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to dappled shade. The Pyramidal European Hornbeam has flowering catkins that form in early spring before its foliage emerges. The male catkins, which are up to 1.5 inches long, are yellowish and the longer female catkins, which are up to to 3 inches, are more greenish in their hue. It fruits into small nuts, which appear in drooping 5 inch clusters in the summer.

The deciduous European Hornbeam, with its handsome, densely arranged foliage, is renowned for making hedges. Also known for the hardness of its fine grained wood, it's used to manufacture the inner moving parts of pianos. Glistening, toothed and oval-shaped, the deep forest green leaves transmute to yellow in the fall against smooth gray bark inscribed by muscular, vertically aligned undulations. If clipping isn't your fort

Most often used as a rootstock for popular cultivars. Seedlings can be effective if used to create a hedge or screen and have been used in Europe for this purpose. Hardy to -38?F in Ohio during the extreme winter of '93-'94.

European Hornbeam Dark green leaves in summer, yellow in fall; somewhat tolerant of environmental stresses: withstands wind, grows best in sun, will tolerate light shade; often used as a hedge; leaves are highly resistant to insects and disease.

This is the common, and incredibly attractive hornbeam used singly or as a hedge. It is a medium to large tree with distinctive ribbed leaves. It grows about one foot per year with an ultimate height of about 50'. This is truly one of the finest landscape trees in existence.