Carpinus betulus - Hornbeam

The Common Hornbeam, or Hornbeam hedge, is the ideal bush to quickly and cost-effectively create regular and elegant hedges. Depending on your budget, the length of your hedge, your patience, and the time you can dedicate to gardening, different types of products are available to you.

- For an economical hornbeam hedge, opt for 9 cm pots that you can plant all year round, or go for bare-root plants for autumn or winter planting. Soil preparation should be meticulous (thorough weeding, removal of all roots, planting trench), and it is advisable to place a weed suppressant at the base of the bushes to limit the germination of weeds until they establish themselves. Once established, they develop quickly and will soon catch up with their cultivated counterparts in larger pots. This is the most economical solution when it comes to creating a hedge of at least 10m (32ft) in length.

- For a fast-growing hornbeam hedge or to fill in an existing hedge, your choice will be shrubs in 1.5-litre, 3-litre, or even 10-litre pots. Shrubs in pots can be planted all year round, except during freezing or heatwave periods. They are planted in an individual planting hole, like all other shrubs in the garden. While they immediately have an impact, they take a little more time to establish and will require more frequent and regular watering, especially when the summer is dry.

Respect the proper planting distance according to the size of your plant! It is advisable to allow a space of 60cm (23.6in) between each plant for shrubs in buckets and bare roots, 70 to 80cm (31.5in) for plants in 2 or 3-litre pots, 80cm (31.5in) to 1m (3.3ft) for pots from 4 litres to 10 litres, and 1m (3.3ft) to 1.2m (3.9ft) for pots larger than 10 litres.

The Carpinus betulus or Common Hornbeam is a pyramid-shaped tree that becomes round over time. Its straight trunk is covered with pale grey to green-gray bark. It is smooth in young Carpinus and cracks as it ages. Flowers are either male or female. The male catkins are yellow and measure 3cm (1.2in) long, cylindrical in shape. The female catkins are thinner and green reaching 12cm (4.7in). The males appear from autumn, while the females appear in March.

Native to Europe, Turkey, and Ukraine, it is a very hardy species that is quite common in the forests of central Europe. At maturity, Carpinus betulus can reach an average height of 25m (82ft), but it rarely exceeds 10m (32ft) in our gardens, and even less when regularly pruned.

The flowers and leaves appear at the same time in spring. Carpinus betulus produces green fruits in pendulous clusters, 3 to 6 cm (2.4 in) long, turning yellow-brown when mature, in late September. These fruits are called samaras. The foliage is deciduous consisting of oval and dentate leaves, 7 to 12cm (4.7in) long. It is light green and becomes yellow-orange in autumn. The leaves remain attached to the branches for a long time before falling when new leaves emerge in spring.

The hornbeam is a very hardy and undemanding tree, adapting to any sufficiently deep soil, even if chalky or occasionally dry. It is most often used in hedges, whether formal or informal, as a windbreak, in isolation in gardens. It can be associated with other shrubs and trees with autumn foliage such as cotinus, deciduous euonymus, Persian ironwood, or Montpellier maple, all of which are equally likely to succeed in all regions. The orange hips of English roses Morning Mist could accompany its flamboyant branches until the frosts.

The wood of the common hornbeam is used for heating, the production of paper, as well as tools and toys for children. It is a shrub whose lifespan rarely exceeds 100 years.