Now that all the topiary in our nursery has been trimmed and with autumn fast approaching we will be using the last of the good weather to focus on other essential jobs.

Arches are one of the most popular living structures found in gardens across the country and for many years now here at Crown Topiary we have been perfecting these in several different varieties. Today we will be making Hornbeam arches.

Slowly and precisely we train and tie pre selected trees to a bespoke galvanised steel frame. These frames comes apart at its apex which helps with shipping and planting.

This is definitely a job for two people as the trees can take some persuading.

It usually takes a few season for the arches to look thick and mature so we always think a few season ahead to make sure we do not run out of quality stock. Here are some we made 2 years ago.

We have found Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) to be the most popular arch over the years as it is affordable easy to use, looks fantastic in full leaf and although deciduous it can retain is leaf over the winter.