Who says front yard trees have to be boring. Look at this specimen of the Tricolour European Beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Roseomarginata’) growing on the south side of Mortimer Avenue.
I love all beeches for their smooth, grey, elephant-leg bark and regal stance. I love the way the juveniles of our native beeches hold their buff-coloured dry leaves over winter in the forest.
But this! This!
The European beech comes in many forms – spreading, weeping, columnar – as well as leaf colours, all of them beautiful. A well-grown weeping copper beech can make me swoon.
But this one, growing along a busy street in an unassuming neighbourhood, was almost enough to make us leap out of the moving car as we drove by. Sarah asked: what is that?
And now we know.
Here’s what you see when you look up; look wa-a-a-a-a-y up. Imagine if the sky had been blue that day!
10 comments
Looks like new shoots…, I suppose the leaves turn greener as they mature… right?
Lovely sight!!
~ bangchik
Yes,gorgeous! Very dark green framed by the pink.
I think this tree stays pretty red all season. Helen?
Please excuse me, I'm drooling over here! I've never seen a Tricolor so vivid…around here they show quite a bit of cream and not so much pink. I love that you guys screech to a stop to take pics of trees too!
Oh, how beautiful! I don't have a space for more trees, but I would gladly trade one of my fir trees for this one!
It's nice to see a real picture of a full-size tri-color beech. They are lovely trees in the nursery, but usually only two twigs so it's hard to imagine them all grown up.
Its looking so nice in your pic. That's I need a tree for my garden, I like to have a pair of these for my garden but in the small form.
Thanks
pesticides
Bangchik, Sarah's right — they might be a touch pinker as they emerge, but they do stay colourful all season.
Kelly and Allvira, I have a feeling this one has been clipped to keep it more lollypop shaped. Beeches do respond well to trimming. It's so dense, it's hard to see the skeleton of the branches. We'll have to pay attention to this when it isn't in leaf.
Tatyana and Laura, yes it's a beauty, isn't it. Planted in full sun, of course.
Beautiful!
What a gorgie!
Saw one at RBG in Burlington, but it's got green-creamy-pailpurple leaves, not like that. Fabulous!
Drove along Mortimer few times, never noticed it.
Helen, can you tell where on the avenue it is?