Pleaching

The pleached hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in the mansion house gardens made a wonderful show of colour in the early morning sun while walking the dog.

The art of pleaching - or growing trees together to form structural shapes was at its height during Victorian times, but these are more recent, having been planted about 20 years ago. These trees were grown without the aid of a framework, the gardener preferring to use his own skill in pruning to achieve four rectangles, or boxes of hornbeam.

Horizontal shoots from adjacent trees are tied together with soft twine, after a patch of bark has been scraped on each, this encourages the shoots to join and grow as one.

Hornbeam is a favourite choice of tree for pleaching as it is faster growing than beech, yet affords the same lime green in spring, wonderful autumn colour and a good framework of branches throughout the winter.

It has been fascinating watching this work of living art mature over the years. There are also some small topiary yew trees in view which are being trained in columnar form.