Frans Fontaine Hornbeams Leafing Out In Spring - May 2025

Of all the trees, shrubs and other plants in our garden, the row of Frans Fontaine European (Columnar) Hornbeam Trees that are planted as a screen along our property line in our suburban backyard get by-far, the most comments and reactions.  The last time that I posted about these upright trees was in late April, just about a month ago, when the trees were still bare and emerging out of winter dormancy.  I posted that photo because someone commented on a different post asking to see what the trees look like this Spring.  

There has been a lot of change in the garden the past thirty days as everything wakes up.  And, the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam Trees sure are showing signs of that awakening.  

Below is a photo from this week showing the current state of these trees.  They're filling-up and the green leaves are screening our patio from our neighbor.  I expect them to continue to thicken-up over the coming weeks to fill-in even more than they are now.

I'm expecting some Cicada damage on the branches of these trees to start to show up, so in the next few weeks (once they fully leaf-out), I'll examine some of the branches and see if they need to be pruned or cleaned-up to remove any dead (thanks to the Cicada damage) branches.