How to grow Hornbeam

It’s was a frosty morning here in Lancashire, North West England. Despite the cold I was tempted outside to have a look at the garden and of course to take some pictures of frosted plants. As expected there were lots of frosted seedheads and the duck pond was completely frozen over. At the edge of the pond a some of the plants were lit up by the early morning sunshine.

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Looking Good 20th November

There are still some leaves left on our trees despite Storm Barney. The sun has managed to break through occasionally and those shafts of sunlight created some magical moments. This is Hornbeam Carpinus betulus. I can’t tell you how happy I am that these leaves are still clinging to the trees… at least for now. They are ragged and quite past their best but under the circumstances they are looking good to me today!

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Hornbeam Hedge

Hornbeam ThumbnailDespite the cold wet weather the garden is full of life. I tried to photograph a lovely woodpecker feeding on peanuts today but they are very shy birds and it flew off as soon as it spotted me. I wandered down to the pond and birds in the hedge caught my eye. Once again they were off before I could take a decent picture… so here are some photos of the hedge which couldn’t get away!

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