Thank you. Yes, I love these little guys—the piping plovers. I like to be where they are in the summer (cool maritime climate) and follow them where they are in the winter (warm sunny pleasant winters ). They have breeding populations here in New England (Rhode Island) and I believe up in Nova Scotia. Many people here resent them because due to their protected status if they nest/ breed on a beach, that beach is severely restricted or closed to most recreational use. I see them in Florida too,on Sanibel Island when I visit in winter. Apparently, they are very wealthy birds as they always seem to be on/threaten to close down the prime real estate $$$ beaches I see them at in New England and Florida.

Nova Scotia is one of my Places I really want to visit, Appears so beautiful. Bay of Fundy sounds amazing.

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Yes, so true. When I planted this on our suburban lot 20+ years ago I was absolutely certain I was going to transplant the 8 foot tree to a country lot I planned to buy. But life happened…and 20 + years later we stayed in the burbs and the 8ft tree is too big.

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Ah, interesting. My former neighbor in rural MD has one growing wild on her property, an old historic tobacco farm, very historic area near Annapolis. It must be at least 25 years old. Her adult daughter used to call it the snake tree because large black snakes used to live near the tree. Anyhow, whenever I go to visit I notice it is still going strong. About 10 miles away from there is some American Chestnut Trust or preserve; always intended to visit but never did. Seems like an important tree species that witnessed so much history in that part of the USA .

Here's DollyTheHun's beech tree. She couldn't get it uploaded. I'll let her now discuss it, as I know little to nothing about beech trees. :biggrin:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community.../CarolTree.jpg

We used to know someone who owned a nursery. This beach tree had a zing in the top of it so we got it on the cheap. Apparently it's perfectly sited because it's done really well. But I could see that it would not fit very well on a small city lot.

Wanted to update with photo. The dark purple foliage is now developed for the season, and looks it’s best I think. In May the leaves are unfurling, expanding and have not darkened. By late July they begin to lose the fresh dark purple color and progress to more rusty colors into autumn.

Oh, I really like the dark purple look!

This is one of my weeping beech trees, now that it's finally fully leafed out. Note how narrow it is at the top, the tip is close to the edge of the photo. It's not in a particularly sunny location as it's shaded by a clump of oak trees to its south. I have another one that gets regularly topped because it is directly under wires/power lines, which gives it an interesting shape. Also had 2 other ones that had to be removed because they were in very bad locations; former owners didn't plan for future growth very well.

That’s a dramatic beautiful specimen. I do like them better when they are narrow in form.