Plant: Frans Fontaine - Hornbeam
Hornbeam · Carpinus betulus 'Frans Fontaine'
Was $150.00
Size: 15 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Frans Fontaine is a European hornbeam selected for a tightly columnar outline that stays narrow as it matures, roughly 30 to 35 feet tall and only 9 to 15 feet wide, which makes it useful where a full sized hornbeam will not fit. Dark green doubly serrate leaves with quilted veining turn a warm gold in fall and the dried leaves often hang on into winter, extending the screen. Spring catkins are followed by small brown nutlets on folded bracts. It is slow growing, takes full sun to partial shade on almost any well drained soil, and tolerates drought and urban conditions, so it is used for formal screens, avenues and narrow street plantings.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 35 ft tall and 15 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 4-8
- Deciduous foliage
- Native plant
Plant description
Frans Fontaine is a European hornbeam selected for a tightly columnar outline that stays narrow as it matures, roughly 30 to 35 feet tall and only 9 to 15 feet wide, which makes it useful where a full sized hornbeam will not fit. Dark green doubly serrate leaves with quilted veining turn a warm gold in fall and the dried leaves often hang on into winter, extending the screen. Spring catkins are followed by small brown nutlets on folded bracts. It is slow growing, takes full sun to partial shade on almost any well drained soil, and tolerates drought and urban conditions, so it is used for formal screens, avenues and narrow street plantings.
- Flowers
- Male and female catkins appear in spring before the leaves; males about 1.5 inches long and yellow, females about 3 inches long and green, wind-pollinated and not showy.
- Foliage
- Dark green, simple, alternate, ovate leaves with doubly serrated margins and quilted veining, turning warm gold in fall and often holding dried on the tree into winter.
- Fruit
- A small oval hard brown nutlet under 1/2 inch across on a serrated folded bract, ripening September to October.
- Bark & stems
- Smooth and grayish brown when young, splitting into shallow furrows, with a distinctly fluted trunk.
- Pruning
- Tolerates heavy pruning when used as a hedge; branches may droop with age and need pruning.
- Native range
- Europe to Iran
