Sitting along the Fairway, Carpinus turczaninowii, is displaying delicate catkins.
The hornbeams, or Carpinus, number some 40 species of deciduous trees belonging to the Betulaceae (birch) family, which occur throughout Europe, Asia and North America. This one, C. turczaninowii, originates from China and Korea, where it is common in open woodland and scrub. It was first discovered by the Russia botanist Nicolai Turczaninow in 1831, but introduced to our gardens by Reginald Farrer in 1914. It can grow to reach 20m in height and produces attractive clusters of downy catkins in spring, before the toothed leaves emerge.