Carpinus (hornbeam)

This genus includes some rare and beautiful species, with 164 individual plants in the Gardens’ collection.

Seldom seen in cultivation is Carpinus fangiana. This species is native to China and has the longest fruiting bodies of the genus, with long, pendulous, catkin-like fruits hanging from the tree over several months during late summer and autumn.

Hornbeam is often used for garden boundaries in the UK or cultivated as a pleached hedge, however some species, such as Carpinus cordata, are certainly worth growing as specimen trees for their attractive, inflated fruits.

One of the most spectacular arboreal sights in the Gardens is a cluster of four trees of Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. The trees look like a flowing river of leaves, from spring to leaf fall.