Fagus Sylvatica Purpurea - Awesome!

Our giant beech tree has just come into leaf.  It is late this year due to the prolonged cold and rain during the spring; however, it has caught up with itself and delighting us with colour to lift our mood.  The red hue will gradually change to dark purple and in the autumn it is one of the last injections of colour for a garden intent on settling down for winter.

We call it our Monster.  Our house is over a hundred years old and when we moved here we asked a tree surgeon to survey it.  He said that it pre-dates the house and it was likely that the buildings were built around it.  If you look at our house from across the valley, the Monster stands out like a beacon in landscape, dwarfing everything around it.   I wonder if it can be seen by a satellite!!

I have read that beech trees can live for up to 400 years so subsequent generations will be able to enjoy its majesty too.  I hope they do but I fear a descendant who likes a simple life may decide enough is enough - because the Monster brings responsibility, maintenance and enough leaves to keep the RHS supplied with leaf mould.  Worst of all, it produces piles of prickly seed pods which hungry squirrels bury and forget about.  The seeds take root everywhere and Doc and I sometimes have a competition to see who can pull up the most beech saplings from the most unusual places.  Come to think of it, I could pot them on and sell them... (Would you like one?)

But despite the work, it would be a shame to lose our Monster.  Houses are built with much smaller gardens these days and there is room for the beech here – just.  It is usually recommended as a specimen tree in parks or large estates because it can grow to 49 m (160 ft) tall with a 3 m (10 ft) diameter trunk . We have had it pruned from time to time because our neighbours don’t like its branches scratching on their bedroom window at night.  We have to keep a close eye on it in winter too because some of the larger branches may weaken in the strong winds.  We like our BFG but we don’t want it in our bedroom either.

Horticultural books suggest that gardeners do not try growing anything underneath a large beech tree's boughs because the roots are shallow and take the moisture from the soil.  However, we have a healthy bed of hellebores, bulbs and solomon's seal to name but a few....obviously the Monster has not read the books.

Occasionally, we have a barbecue, sit on the terrace and listen to the breeze gently swishing through its leaves.  The rustling, the swaying and sunlight shimmering on the leaves is hypnotic and soothing, almost lyrical.  Wine helps of course because otherwise we would sit there contemplating how many barrow loads of leaves are clinging to its branches.