Carpinus betulus

common hornbeam - hedging range

size: 25 plants - 40-60cm

available to order from autumn 2012

£34.99

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• Position: full sun or partial shade
• Soil: fertile, well-drained soil
• Rate of growth: average
• Flowering period: March
• Flower colour: vivid-green
• Other features: distinctive, grey, fluted bark
• Hardiness: fully hardy
  
  

  To find out more about how to plant a hedge, click here

  
  
  The Royal Horticultural Society bare root hedging range is a very low cost way of planting a hedge. The bare root plants are only available to buy and plant when dormant. (November-March) These plants, with known seed provenence, are grown in 220 acres of rich Herefordshire soil. As they are dispatched directly from the fields, rather than through a nursery, they are much fresher than imported or even stored plants. RHS bare root plants are grown through low input horticultural methods. Plants are rotated with pigs annually, to improve soil condition. Water is harvested in the winter for use in the summer. No heat or polytunnels are used and, as the plants are dispatched direct from the fields, transport is kept to a minimum.
  
  Vivid green catkins in March, followed by clusters of green fruit, and toothed mid-green leaves turning orange and gold in autumn. Hornbeam is an excellent native tree for a large garden. Pyramidal in shape, it tolerates wet, clay soils and responds well to pruning, making it perfect for training as a formal hedge.
  
  
• Garden care: To train as a central-leader standard remove all of the lateral branches on the lowest third of the main stem and shorten the laterals by half on the middle third, making angled cuts to an outward-facing bud. On the upper third remove only dead, diseased or damaged growth and crossing stems. It is essential though that any pruning is undertaken in late autumn or winter when they are fully dormant as the sap has a tendancy to 'bleed' if pruned at any other time of the year.
  
  

Please note that as we grow the hedging especially for you, we need to take full payment when you place your order so as to reserve stock for you. The bareroot plants will then be despatched to you during November.

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