Carpinus Betulus Purpurea

[BobbyLane]

Ive never heard of the cultivar until i saw this.maybe its a grafted Hornbeam
The spring or new growth opens with a red tinge, the leaves stay purple for the first few weeks before reverting to the normal green colour...
this tree has an exceptional radial root spread....definitely a keeper

from a nursery tree picked up in spring. all the branches had to be cut back. re potted
its in the process of putting out a final flush induced by pruning and leaf cutting

 

[BobbyLane]

 

[Metalmickey]

Lovely looking tree.

 

[AJL]

Weird looking nebari like an octopus! has someone thread grafted the roots?!

 

[penumbra]

Weird looking nebari like an octopus! has someone thread grafted the roots?!

That is what I thought as well. Looks a little contrived.

 

[BobbyLane]

im not really sure, maybe it was produced from an air layer. i occasionally get nursery hornbeams with radial rootspreads like this

 

[BobbyLane]

if i compared the nebari to this zelkova rootbase which i know for sure was a layer, then the result isnt too dissimilar....although the zelkova layer has produced much finer roots

 

[BobbyLane]

all the leaves are off now, the primary lines are set and this is at a stage where it can be just left to grow out n clipped back,
i recently downsized the training pot