A weeping European beech - a tree for northeastern US gardens
 

I was visiting my other favorite online forum featuring enviable palms and orchids growing outdoors. I thought wouldn't it be interesting to post a photo of a tree in my garden in the northeast; a tree that doesn't struggle to grow in our cold winters and coolish maritime summers near Newport, RI. Newport has many very large specimens of the weeping European green variety that are likely over 120 yrs old. When you walk under a mature specimen in the summer it is like walking into a cool cave or grotto. I've had this tree for over 20 years and it actually fit in my small college car when I came home from college one summer. Fagus grandifolia pendula 'purple fountain'. When the leaves 1st emerge they are a translucent red, but then darken to rusty dark purple and the tree is opaque once leaves mature. I've noticed that these trees struggle to grow even down in MD and DC area, a horticulturist at the Smithsonian told me that the growing tips burn, tree struggles in the hot humid mid-Atlantic summers.

That is one heck of a cool tree Piping Plover!! I'm enchanted... especially the weeping form, and the leaves that start out translucent quality when leafing out. Now there's one I'll have to admire from afar... I'm sure it would hate Kansas weather.

That beauty and wisteria would fulfil my desires.

i love it

envy for sure


wisteria, Deac? why cant you grow that?

Yeah, deac... I don’t understand that myself.

Thank you WW! Yes, it made me realize that exotic is sometimes simply something that does not grow in your area and all areas have their edge with special flora/fauna. And weather tourism people go to Kansas to chase epic cloud formations and storms rare to the rest of the globe.

BTW how is your orchid greenhouse/sunroom project coming along? I think I have the correct OP on that topic-- Weren't you working on that last year?

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Yes, wisteria growing up that tree would be a show stopper. great idea. Imagine the color contrast of bluish wisteria flowers with deep wine-red beech foliage. I'll need to remember to take a photo of the beech when the leaves are at their finest color in May/June. I captured the beginning and end of season with these 2 pics.

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Thank you DC. And I am envying the south FLorida weather now. I did not make my usual 2 trips to FL this year and really am missing it. I really want to visit Fairchild gardens again, been years since I made my way out there.

Absolutely! One's man trash is another's treasure, big time. And yeah, meh, I've lived here all my life and I still don't get the storm chasers who come here.

Yes! Gracias for asking.... it's going very well, better than even anticipated. BUT, with a huge learning curve. Extremely different than my winter BatCave days. I would give some details, but still trying to figure it out myself. Regardless, these old knees are grateful with anticipation of less stairs to climb up and down in the future. That's been the quickest learning curve thus far. :biggrin:

Late to the party. We're in the middle of winter, or I'd post a pic of my Tri Color Beech. Deac, wisteria is a thug! You want it on a pergola, not a tree. Like Bittersweet, it'll take down and smother a tree... From experience.

Great beech, btw!

Not new to wisteria. In my previous home had a pergola built and it(structure and plant) was a thing of beauty. Now I'm in a gated community and can't deal with folks who "give permission" for building requirements-guess I'm getting old and crotchity. Lots of wild ones pop up by the roadside and wish they'd seed themselves in woods behind my home. Then again...!

After bloom season I face a major battle with the wisteria on my mom's gazebo. I'm going to take it back to a few very large trunks and only let it regrow well above ground level. This time I won't let it climb over the nearby hibiscus and grass. Depending on what I find some of the wooden gazebo slatting may need repair or replacement.

Mine is American Wisteria. In the spring I cut the top back to fingers.

I don't remember whether this is American, Chinese or Japanese. I planted it there when I was in high school, in the early 1970s. I haven't been there when it's in flower for many years, so I don't remember how long are the inflorescences.

If anybody wants seed I'd be happy to send it!

Thanks Dolly, I’m just seeing this now. I love tri color beeches. I would need to get another property to fit one.

That is a cool tree! :)

We lost our American Chestnut to the American Chestnut blight a couple of years ago but I thought it was cool to have one and to get nuts from it for a few years. RIP

Thank you. Amazing that you had one with the prevalence of that tree disease. Was this an old one that was in a remote location and able to avoid the blight? I hear they are able to survive long enough to produce seed which at least gives the species a chance to eventually side step the disease genetically.

I was trying to upload photos last night of my weeping European purple beech. Trying again. This tree really needs a 2 acre front lawn to provide the right visual setting and not be crowded , oh well— i enjoy seeing it leaf out every spring. Unfortunately, I’ve had to butcher the lower branches otherwise it will “tent” out and take over the whole yard. Some magnificent green specimens over 120? Years old at the Newport Mansions and other private/ public gardens in Newport, Rhode Island—and in those settings they have the large lawns to properly spread out.

I have a couple of those weeping beech; tried to take some pictures but as the leaves are barely coming out they just blend into the background and there's not much to see.

BTW I love your handle, so in lieu of some beech pictures, here's a beach picture, with a bunch of those cute little guys.

Are those Piping Plovers for sure? My understanding from the Chicago Tribune is that there are only 74 banded. Monty and Rose nested at Montrose Harbor for two seasons much to everyone's delightful. This year Rose did not return and Monty just died last week.

I digress. PP, you're wise to know the size limitations of your property. it's a hard thing to learn...

Given the numbers you're right they are probably some other similar plover (palmated plover). But (in my defence) they are known to nest on that particular beach, not sure about numbers for recent years.

I planted the Chestnut tree. There were/are programs/nurseries that sell 'resistant' nuts and small trees and my dad planted one. A seed sprouted from his so he gave me it to plant. His tree died, too. Now I just have the two fir trees and an English Walnut, then all the small potted tropical trees. :)

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.