Purple Beech Sings of Seasons

Spring arrived. It showed up in a fury of thunderstorms and hot, windy days. We sort of skipped it, really and went straight to summer. I like temps in the 60s. It's great t-shirt and jeans weather. Oh, well, it's not to be.

So, instead the beech tree is singing a song of summer. It has leisurely unfurled its coppery pink leaves from its elegant stiletto buds and now is softly waving in the slightest breeze. Beech leaves are silken to the touch. This is a Riversii copper beech and its leaves will darken to deepest purple and then age to bronze. After puttering about for five years growing roots, it has finally joined the rest of the trees in busting out two feet of growth in a year. It's becoming a rounded, layered, lovely thing.

Beautiful Beech Buds

Fagus sylvatica 'Riversii' aka stunning!

This is one of the new kids in the yard - my purple leaf beech!  I have loved beech trees for close to forever, just after I fell in love with elms.  The smooth grey bark, the deep purple leaves, and most of all the buds.  What could be more elegant than the pointed buds of beech?  These are not fast growing trees, but beeches are worth the patience.  They are extremely long lived and there are specimens hundreds of years old.  They are forest trees, especially in Europe. Beech forests occupy our earliest imaginings.  Red Riding Hood fled from the wolf in a beech forest.  Hansel and Gretel escaped the witch into the beech trees.  Couldn't those buds be claws or fingernails? I've sited this so we can see it daily from the back windows and it will eventually shade the patio.  Now, I visit it daily, just to touch those long pointed buds and dream a little fairy tale.