Beech Trees in Winter

American Beech, Fagus grandifloria

          Beech trees turn golden yellow in the fall, but instead of dropping their leaves, many hold on to their brown leaves through winter.  This leaf retention trait is called marcescence, and usually occurs on either young beeches or the newer lower branches of mature beeches.  Many oaks are  marcescent as well.  Scientists don’t know why some trees keep their dead leaves past fall, but some believe that the dead leaves deter deer from eating the fresh young sprouts in spring. 

            Beech trees produce beechnuts, which are not related to the chewing gum.   The small, three-sided nuts are edible to humans and wildlife.  They can be found inside a prickly bur, or husk, and can be roasted or eaten raw.

            In the woods, beech trees are very shade tolerant.  However, their thin bark makes them susceptible to extreme winter temperatures, late spring frosts, fire injury and diseases.  The thin gray bark is one reason people are inclined to carve their initials on the tree. 

            Beech wood is used for flooring, furniture, lumber and veneer.  The tree was also important in colonial medicine.

Beechnuts and their husks

Finding Color in Winter

           Lacking summer's vivid colors, winter may at first glance seem rather drab.  However, if you take a walk looking for color, you may find it in some interesting places, both in nature and in the garden.   


          The green and white stripes of a single leaf found among the leaf litter on the forest floor indicate a future orchid.  The single basal leaf of the puttyroot orchid emerges in the fall and remains through winter and into spring, when it withers and disappears just as a stalk, or raceme appears.  The raceme will have about a dozen tiny orchid flowers.  The size of the flowers, as well as the pale, muted colors makes them very hard to see.  The orchid blooms for about two weeks during summer.  It is believed that a substance in the plant's corm was once used as putty to repair broken pottery.

Puttyroot orchid leaf, Aplectrum hyemale

           Another single leaf orchid is the crane-fly orchid.  It, too, emerges in autumn and is gone by the time the flower blooms in late summer.  The top of the leaf is dull green but the underside is purple.  Despite the flower’s long spur, they are small and often difficult to spot.

Crane-fly orchid leaf, Tipularia discolor

The purplish underside.

 

 

            The distinct silvery veins of the downy rattlesnake plantain, Goodyera pubescens, are attractive and easy to see, even among the leaf litter.  This native evergreen orchid blooms in late summer, producing a spike of white flowers.  The entire plant is covered in fine, downy hair. Pubescens in the botanical name means hairy.

Rattlesnake plantain

 

          In a container garden, euphorbia leaves provide interesting color.  Euphorbias belong to a diverse group of plants worldwide that includes cacti, trees, flowers and even the Christmas poinsettia.  All have a toxic substance that can irritate skin.  Some non native euphorbias can be invasive in the garden.

Euphorbia

 

            In shade gardens, Lenten rose, Helleborus spp, is an evergreen plant that blooms in winter.  These hardy, drought tolerant perennials add color and interest to the winter garden.  Despite the name they are not roses, nor are they native. 

Lenten rose

   


           With less showy flowers but great chartreuse color, Helleborus foetidus, also known as "stinking hellebore," adds color and interest to the garden in winter.

Stinking hellebore

Unlike the open flowers of most hellebores, this one features drooping, cup-shaped flowers.