Like living exclamation points, these trees punctuate the la..

Like living exclamation points, these trees punctuate the landscape with an elegant wit. Conway fashioned his allée from fastigiate hornbeams (Carpinus betulus 'Fastigiata'), which naturally tend toward a columnar shape. To keep them looking trim, he prunes the hardwoods with hedge clippers three to four times a season, from spring through fall — though it's hardly an exact science. "Don't worry about mistakes," Conway says. "New shoots will appear in a few weeks, and you'll have another ...