Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam Tree Hedge - After Six Seasons - September 2024

The single-best decision we've made with our landscape in the six seasons since we moved into our house was planting a row of Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees along the property line on the north side.  

Over the years, I've tried to document their grown from 2" caliper trees to a full hedge today (one that likely needs to be pruned next season).  

Here's a post from July 2022 that somewhat chronicles the full history of these trees.  

I typically try to post some photos of these trees in late Summer - here's the trees from a year ago (September 2023) and then again as they drop their leaves.  Here's last Fall/early Winter when they were dropping their leaves - and some holding their leaves.  

Have a look at what the trees look like below - right now.  They're tall, full and surprisingly in need of (I think) a prune.

Like all the trees in our yard, if you look closely, you'll see a bunch of brown, dead 'tips' on the branches.  That's cicada damage that happened with the big flush of cicadas we had this year.  

But, you can also see some gaps or 'holes' or sparseness in the upper parts of these trees.  

They've never been pruned, but I'm thinking they need to be - maybe a dormant pruning this Winter?