Interesting Plant: Tricolor Beech  (Fagus sylvatica Purpurea Tricolor)

I came across a couple of these trees on our recent Ohio trip and was struck by their beauty every time. According to my reading, they are a bit slow growing, but they would be well worth the time for such a beautiful specimen tree. After only a quick look, it appears that the leaves start our green throughout, but then, as the leaf ages the chlorophyll along the edges of the leaf dies out, revealing the read coloration and almost turning completely transparent. When the sun shines through the leaves it almost seems to glow. I probably don’t have a place for this tree out here in California, but were I to have a garden in Ohio, I would almost certainly add one of these Beech trees as a focal point.

Schoepfle Garden - Birmingham, Ohio - Tricolor Beech

Schoepfle Garden - Birmingham, Ohio - Tricolor Beech

 Interesting Plant: Tricolor Beech – Fagus sylvatica Purpurea Tricolor

Fagus sylvatica, the European Beech or Common Beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.

It is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to 49 m (160 ft) tall[2] and 3 m (10 ft) trunk diameter, though more typically 25–35 m (80–115 ft) tall and up to 1.5 m (5 ft) trunk diameter. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 4 m (13 ft) tall. It has a typical lifespan of 150 to 200 years, though sometimes up to 300 years. The appearance varies according to its habitat; in forest conditions, it tends to have a long, slender light-gray trunk with a narrow crown and erect branches, in isolation with good side light the trunk is short with a large and widely spreading crown with very long branches.” — Wikipedia

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