Why I Oughta...

The hedge of Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeam trees that are planted along the side of our house have NOW been pruned.  Just a little bit.  These are now in their eighth (8th) growing season and up until now I have NOT touched one branch.  No pruning what-so-ever.  But, that ended because of the boardwalk along the side of our house.   I'm eager to keep the idea of miegakure - or "hide and reveal" with these trees and the boardwalk that provides the pathway. That 'hide-and-reveal' is for the full backyard. After a big rain, the branches are loaded with wet leaves and the lower ones on these Frans Fontaine European Hornbeams begin to droop.  And, lean against the screened porch.    This weekend, I grabbed my small hand pruners and began to cut back some of the lower branches.  I picked spots that had foliage back behind the cut, to ensure there would be continued leaf-out.   I didn't want to hack the whole thing back, but ra...

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 ...

At the bottom of my 2025 to-do list post , someone posted this comment - asking to see the latest with our Frans Fontaine European Hornbeam trees: The last update I showed on this row of eight columnar trees was in November of 2024 when they were still holding onto their Fall leaves all the way to November 30th .  I wrote a post in 2022 that showed the full history of these Frans Fontaine Columnar Hornbeams (to that date) including their planting in 2018.    That makes 2025 their eight growing season ('18, '19, '20, '21, '22, '23, '24 and now '25).  They've grown from (in 2018) two-inch (2") caliper trees that barely peeked over the top of our six-foot-tall fence .  To today - where they're providing the full screening we've always wanted.   Today, they're not doing that much screening, though.   They're getting ready to break bud and leaf out.  But, right now, they're mostly bare.  Below are a few photos - showing the trees...

Speaking of 'holding leaves' (yesterday...I posted a photo showing the espalier'd Lindens holding their leaves), the row of Frans Fontaine European Columnar Hornbeams that we have planted along the south property line are doing what they always do in Fall:  hold their leaves late.   The term for trees that hold their leaves DEEP into Winter (when they're all brown and dry, but still clinging to the branches) is named foliar Marcescence.  These aren't quite to that state, but based on previous seasons, we'll see these trees brown-out soon.  Then, one or two of them MAY drop their leaves immediately, while others may hold onto them until Spring.   You see this with Oak trees - quite a bit.  They'll hold some of their leaves all Winter .   Here's a post showing what the trees looked like in February of 2023 - still holding small, crinkled, curled-up leaves that late into the Winter .   And here's a post from one-year-and-one-...