Beech – Fagus slyvatica (Mature)

Description

European Beech, Fagus sylvatica, makes an excellent garden hedge, avenue of trees or just an individual tree in a big garden. Beech is safe for all animals I believe, but would need a fence to hold animals back from damaging it.
This is our second season growing Beech in a bed system. We have had more hand weeding than we hoped to have to carry out. Fortunately the bed is raised so not too much bending!
The crop has not germinated as well as expected and we had quite an interest from squirrels. I don’t think they stole many but they did disturb the bed. Last season we had no problem, in fact they didn’t seem interested at all, this season it has been a different matter.

This tree can be planted at a close spacing usually in a double row to form a perfect hedge. As a hedge it acts as a great screen and a wonderful wind break. In the summer the green leaves are a very attractive background to any garden. After turning brown in the Autumn the leaves normally stay on until the spring, keeping the benefits of screening and a wind break. As a tree standing alone or as a plantation it is magnificent. I have seen trees in a plantation reach 35 meters high. The leaf mold built up under mature trees is a treat for any gardener. I am told that Beech communicate with each other!