spindly hornbeams

[cate james]

Hello there

I am hoping for a bit of advice. I bought 3 pleached hornbeams for my tiny London garden 10 years ago. They seem happy and healthy except that the branches which grow horizontally have got no thicker at all since planting (nor the tree trunks). All the trees seem to do is produce masses of vertical shoots which head skywards (I cut these off every late winter/early spring). As a result the trees look quite spindly and I am concerned that when the bamboo frames rot away, they will not really have much strength or structure. Plus I love the architectural silhouettes of other peoples' pleached trees and would love this in my garden. The trees were brought from Italy and planted by a professional. There is weed-reducing matting on top of the soil and slate chips on top of that. During lockdown I removed all the slate and matting and put some compost down, but other than this I have done nothing but watering in dry weather. Any advice for getting those horizontal branches to thicken up would be much appreciated. Thank you, Cate (obvs not a gardener, just an appreciator :))

[Steven P]

A weed is only a flower in the wrong place.

Right about the membrane, mums new place has it (soon to be gone), the roots have grown through it, all she can do now it trim off the green bits every few weeks. Have to scrape off the slate, cut out the membrane, pull up the weed to do any more (and at her age, bending to weed is out).

 

In the right place I'd say it has its uses. For example a small garden where a lawn mower is as large as the grass area put stones down and planters, maintenance would be weed killer and blast every living thing there.

[Dan Maynard]

I think the trees were pretty big when transplanted, and coming all the way from Italy you wouldn't really expect them to grow much for a good few years after that shock .

 

A low growth rate is generally desirable in this type of tree, otherwise you'd be fighting to keep them in shape the whole time.

[cate james]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions - and your strong opinions on the weed membrane! 😝 I will take it all under consideration.