One Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Dropped Its Leaves

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Just a little bit over a week ago, I posted a photo here in the [garden diary] of our Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees and discussed their potential marcescence (retaining of their dead leaves).  Fast forward to now and if you look at the photo above here, you'll notice that one of the trees - the fourth from the left - has now dropped all of its leaves and is bare.   I took a closer look at the tree and it has, indeed, put out some buds, so I am not sure if the leaf loss is a sign of anything.  But, we'll know in the Spring when/if the tree comes back.
Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 22, 2026 at 4:23 PM

    Hi Jake, I'm looking at doing a 40 foot wall of horn beams for privacy. Would you be able to post pics of how yours look today? And would you in hindsight choose the tree again or would you have chosen something different? Thanks!!

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