You have to see my Beech trees....!

I found Dave's last month and have been reading and reading for weeks while i'm recovering from herniated disks. What a fantastic site! I'm very interested in trees - obsessed really - and wanted to share my reasons. Our house was built in 1965, underneath some very old beech trees - we've been told they are 4 different types of European Beech (one is a cut-leaf or fern-leaf beech, the others have copper colored leaves in the spring, that turn to green in summer). the canopy has been raised, it's about 30' up, they are about 80'-100' tall. the biggest one has a 13' circumference. These are grand old trees that we adore. I thought they might be appreciated in this forum!

Kara


This message was edited May 20, 2005 4:44 PM

another view....

when we say big, we mean big!

up into the canopy...this is the cut-leaf

and another view...

elephant bark!

baby cedar growing among the old roots...

when i tell people we have big beech trees in our yard, they'll say they have one too - that is til they see ours! this is my cutie pie, sitting on "Princess" (the kids have named this tree!).

and yes, they are close to the house!

We have many Beech but not quite that big around....WOW! Is that Petasites growing in your yard? gunnera?

yes, that is an ever-spreading field of petasites!!! funny thing is - i have petasites in several other spots in the yard, but i have NO recollection of ever putting it THERE. last year i couldn't figure out what it was as it's much different from the other petasites which is much more reserved, not as big, and not spreading like in that spot - i don't remember those plants flowering last year either - but this year i sure did recognize the flower. DUH! last year those leaves were over 18", the other petasites in the other areas never got bigger then maybe 9". i do love it though!

wish i could grow gunnera here, but i don't think it'd survive our winters. i also have rodgersia that is just showing it's brown/rusty colored leaves, it'll be interesting to see what that looks like this year, last year was the first year in and it didn't do much, but it's very enthusiastic so far this year! also, my darmera (sp?) palmata has flowered this year, first flowering and it's been in for 3yrs. that was very exciting!

thanks for the note - yeah - aren't those trees grand? we sure are lucky...!

kara

Your beech trees are magnificent...they are all you need for a beautiful garden...

Do you give them a lot of care or do they seem to thrive on their own? Just wondering..

Wow...those are great trees...Thanks for sharing.

tabasco - they have survived all this time on their own - the only thing we do is keep an eye on them to be sure they are healthy. once a lawn care guy came by and said we needed to fertilize them. we asked our beloved certified arborist/tree genius extraordinaire...and he laughed...said they'd lived all this time without help from any humans! we have them trimmed (dead wood, etc) every few years. it's amazing to see them climb up those trunks like monkeys. and they all eat lunch UP in the canopy!

we also had a 40' blue atlas cedar that had been planted in our courtyard which sadly we had to remove last year as it was sick. at the same time we took down a 100' tall VERY old white pine. THAT was heartbreaking. that thing was mammoth and HOLLOW from the ground to 15' up - carpenter ants. it would have taken out the house if it had fallen. but it was sad to see it go. i have amazing pics of the crane that was here to do that work. and the blue atlas cedar being SWUNG up over the courtyard brick wall, hanging in the air above the road - looked like a gigantic christmas tree! i'll have to go look for those and maybe post a few. very interesting work.

thanks for the note.

The smaller coltsfoot that you see (tussilago farfara) is native...but not the giant coltsfoot! Petasities Japonica..Beware! I made the mistake of planting it in an out of the way place and now I can't get rid of it! It is going into my neighbors' yards and I pull it out and spray it and it still comes back. Rodgersia is wonderful...you must like large leaved plants (and large trees!)

yikes! i bought them all at the same time - maybe one was mis-marked? the other plants aren't spreading at all like this one. we do have a big backyard, so i don't mind the spread - so far! i will certainly keep an eye on it though. i have a variegated petasites growing in the courtyard and that's a beautiful plant. and yes, i love large leaved plants - we also have huge sum & substance hosta back there too - with such big trees...tiny leaves are lost back there!

How wonderful it must be to have such beautiful trees in your garden
They are simply amazing

I love trees. I think every house should have at least one good tree. Have you read "Remarkable Trees of the World" by Thomas Pakenham? Wonderful book. Your trees look like they should have been in that book! They are extraordinary. Would love to see those other photos you got!

Beautiful trees.
Welcome to Dave's- it's nice to see someone who lives so close!
Cindy

hey neighbor! i'm glad to see you say you are zone 7a? my local nurseries here in plymouth say zone 6, but i thought it was 7 too. oh well. i sometimes don't pay attention to those zones anyways. i pay attention to leaf size and texture - gets me into trouble sometimes re: petasites! i love mahoney's - do you shop there? and love listening to the garden show on saturday mornings on the radio. glad to meet you too!
kara

moyesii - i was reading about that book on the other old tree thread. going to see if it's at my library. i too love old trees. my neighbor said that we are lucky to be living right now, to enjoy these trees in their mature state. you look at the young beeches at the nurseries and think that the owner is really planting those for future generations - and it'll take quite a few for that young tree to look like ours. as paul simon says "born at the right time". yup!

and i will locate those pics of the treework - it was something to see. we even videotaped it. it was amazing to see the crane going UP over the house to remove that huge pine and to just pluck the 40' cedar out of the courtyard like it was a seedling! i'll try and post those later today in this forum.

i love dave's!

-kara

They are gorgeous!I have always wanted a beech tree. I guess I'll have to live vicariously through the internet! My yard is just not big enough.

Hi Kara, I think we are officially in zone 7a according to the USDA Map. But I never have anything survive the winters here unless it is hardy to zone 6. I keep trying, though!
I Love Mahoney's too. I shop there all the time!
Someday when I have time ( I have to go plants some things)
I will tell you about the beech trees I know around here.
Hi Ivy!

Cindy

Oh, those TREES! Wow. We have a large sycamore in our yard, and it's the highlight of everything as far as I'm concerned. I kinda cringe when we have really bad wind storms, but so far so good. ;) I wonder how old those huge beech trees are if they were old when the house was built in 1965. You really are fortunate to be living now.

Oceangirl - Hey! Long time no see. How is it at Cape Cod? Cold and damp like Ct?

Gardenwife- When I was a kid in Oklahoma our neighbors used to have a sycamore. What a great tree! Can you post a picture? Does it have the little round seed pods on it? We used to play with those things all day long when I was little.

I read that beech trees take about 50 years to come to maturity. We have the old Harkness estate nearby, dating back to the 1890's, and the beech trees lining the driveway look smaller than the ones in the picture (although it's hard to tell).