Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam Trees In Winter - Leaf Drop - February 2026

The last full-view of the hedge of Frans Fontaine Columnar (European) Hornbeam trees was in late Spring 2025 when they were leaf'ing out and creating that narrow, green screen.  I posted some photos this past Summer showing how I was pruning back some of the tips over the boardwalk on the side of our house - with this being the first *real* pruning I've ever done to them in eight years.  

Over the years, these trees have been true to their reputation when it comes to 'holding their leaves'.  They're decidous trees, but thanks to the magic of foliar marcescence, Frans Fontaine Hornbeams typically hold onto their brown, dessicated leaves much longer than most trees around here.   Here's a post from November 2024 showing how the leaves were hanging on in Late Fall, well after everything else had dropped its canopy.  Here's a whole category of posts talking about the phenomenon of [foliar marcescence].  

And, over the years, I've seen these Frans Fontaine Hornbeams hold onto their leaves all the way until late Winter (February).  But, this year, the trees dropped their leaves like most of the rest of our trees.  

I posted a photo showing the leaf litter at the feet of this row of upright trees at the very end of December and talked about the early arrival of Winter (and snow) in October, which cut short most of the Fall cleanup, but it also seems to have done a number on these trees leaf-wise.   The good news is that the bed in front of these trees (the pizza oven bed) is full of clay soil, so amending the beds has been on my list of to-dos.  The early fall of leaf litter can't hurt that effort, right?

Today, the trees are bare.  Skeletons.  With tons of thin, upright branches.  Here, below is a peek at the current state of these trees.  Also note....the pizza oven tucked into the corner there, too.  

If you look closely, you'll see some leaves hanging on there.  Here, below, is a close-up showing those brown leaves still clinging to some of the tips.

Foliar Marcescence (Holding Leaves) on Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams

I'll get out there in the next few weeks and see if we have any buds set on these trees.  Seeing them leaf-out and open-up is one of my favorite parts of Spring.