Planting a Hedge of European Hornbeams

April 20, 2023

Creating new garden spaces takes a lot of time, planning, and patience, but it's always so exciting to see areas evolve and take shape.

Here at my Bedford, New York farm, we're working on a new garden near my stable. You may have caught a small glimpse at it on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. You'll see more in a an upcoming episode of "Martha Gardens" exclusively on the Roku Channel. Enclosing this new garden, I decided to plant a hedge of European Hornbeams, Carpinus betulus - a fast-growing deciduous tree. Not long ago, my outdoor grounds crew planted about 300-bare root hornbeams from JLPN, a three-generation family owned tree company in Salem, Oregon that focuses on growing deciduous seedlings and softwood rooted cuttings. I am so pleased with how they look - and they're already showing lots of healthy new growth.

Here are some photos, enjoy.

: Carpinus betulus is native to Western Asia and central, eastern, and southern Europe, including southern England. Because of its dense foliage and tolerance to being cut back, this hornbeam is popularly used for hedges and topiaries. Hornbeams are often confused with the common beech because of their similar leaves; however, the hornbeam leaves are actually smaller and more deeply furrowed than beech leaves. The leaves are deciduous and alternate, with serrated margins.

: I have a giant European hornbeam hedge outside my main greenhouse. It is quite pretty here, but serves primarily as a privacy and noise barrier from the road.

: The same hornbeams border my formal white lily gardens across the gravel driveway.

: Here is another hornbeam hedge that runs in front of my Summer House and along the road behind my Winter House.

: I wanted to enclose this entire space with the same bold green European Hornbeams – it’s a half acre large.

: I decided the hedge would be close to the fence. Here are Brian and Ryan measuring enough space for the hornbeams as well as for the Polaris vehicles we use to tour the tight spaces around the farm.

: These are European hornbeam bare-root cuttings. Bare-root trees are so named because the plants are dug from the ground while they are dormant, and stored without any soil surrounding their roots. Once they arrived from JLPN, they were placed in tubs of water right away.

: The sod was removed from the entire perimeter of the space.

: And then the soil was rototilled.

: Chhiring and Pasang dug a trench just deep enough for the bare-root cuttings – about eight to 10-inches deep. Chhiring also sprinkles a good a fertilizer into the trench, a fertilizer made with mycorrhizal fungi, which helps transplant survival and increases water and nutrient absorption.

: The cuttings are removed from the water in groups, so they don’t dry out.

: Hornbeams have taproots rather than a lot of roots close to the surface. This means the root systems grown down rather than out.

: I wanted the trees planted two-feet apart, so Pasang uses a pipe exactly that length as a guide. He also puts up bright landscape twine to ensure all the trees are planted straight.

: The tree is placed where the roots start and the top shoots begin.

: Here is a closer look at the tree in the designated hole.

: The soil is then gently filled in around the roots and then lightly tamped down.

: The twine creates a good guide for all the trees being planted. It also saves lots of time – one does not have to check the line of planted specimens after each one is in the ground.

: And then Pasang measures the distance again for the next tree.

: Pasang planted nearly 300 bare-root trees in less than three days – everything is coming along so nicely.

: Looking closely, one can see how perfectly straight these trees are. If they are in good condition, the trees should sprout leaves in the same year they are planted.