If you’re wondering how effective pleached Hornbeam trees can be for creating privacy in a garden, take a look at this planting project we recently completed. In this instance, we planted pleached Hornbeam in the garden of a relatively new house. The goal was to establish a natural screen that blocks views from neighbouring windows and enhances the privacy of the garden space.

Considerations before planting

Choosing the right trees for your garden involves thinking about your goals, the space available, and the planting conditions.

In this particular case, the customer wanted to screen neighbouring properties without sacrificing too much space. Given the limited planting area, we determined that a clear stem would be ideal, ensuring lower branches remain above head height. Pleached trees were also identified as a suitable option due to their slender form. This keeps the branches compact and prevents encroachment onto neighbouring gardens. Additionally, we learned that the trees would be planted in heavy clay soil near a mature Oak.

Considering these three key requirements, the Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) emerged as the clear choice. Hornbeam thrives in clay soil and provides excellent semi-evergreen screening (especially when grown in pleached or standard form).

Considerations after planting

Hornbeam only needs a light trim twice a year, which is ideal as the customer wanted something that was easy to maintain. These light trims help with formative pruning, encouraging the development of a dense and compact “raised hedge” within a couple of growing seasons. This creates an effective, solid screen that provides excellent coverage during the spring and summer. Perfect for enjoying your garden at its best.

In the autumn, the leaves will transition through beautiful gold tones to a rich brown. While Hornbeam is deciduous, it often retains its dry, brown leaves throughout the winter (unless the conditions are particularly windy or cold). This means that Hornbeam will continue to offer partial screening, whilst allowing more light to access ground floor windows during the darker winter months.

Although this article is focused on explaining how effective pleached Hornbeam are at creating privacy, we stock many other varieties of trees suitable for creating a ‘raised hedge’. This includes evergreens like Photinia Red Robin and Cherry laurel which will provide screening all year round.

Read More

• Screening trees create privacy for an overlooked garden on a new build estate
• Planting Pleached Laurel Trees
• Pleached Photinia Screening Trees – Latest Planting
• A quick introduction to Hornbeam (Carpinus)
• Hornbeam Hedge (Carpinus betulus)