The beech tree, an asset to the garden.

Beeches are interesting trees to have in any garden, because of their wonderful lime-green foliage in Spring. They make excellent hedging too when planted densely. Being hardy, they withstand heavy frosts and snow and if planted in a strategic place, afford protection to other plants in the garden. In Winter they keep the protective brown leaf cases from which the new growth emerges in Springtime.

Not content with solely green, we also invested in a miniature copper beech with its beautiful trailing habit, a standard copper which stands tall and proud and looks so majestic, and a tri-colour beech with its pink and green and coppery tones. In Spring, the leaves of these copper beeches begin with a shade of greenish-purple before making a gradual change to copper.

Of all the beeches we now have growing in our garden, the beech hedge is the place which has been preferred over the years by the robin, thrush and blackbird for their nesting sites. We have also watched the titmice, wrens, and finches combing the dense growth for all kinds of juicy insects and grubs. Beeches, therefore, are an asset as they supply good nesting sites, a constant supply of live insects as well as nuts in Autumn, can withstand the ravages of Winter, and display coats in a variety of hues, from lime-green through to purple and copper.