The American Beech (Fagus grandifolia) is a tree that brings stories to mind. How many lovers’ hearts have been carved in the smooth bark of a Beech, then over the years spreading to a barely recognizable size and shape.

Long ago we had a fine, round  beechwood kitchen table. Stamped on the underside was “Made in Yugoslavia.” I remember dreaming about where the timber tree had grown and whose hands had fashioned it into table.

One of my most delightful memories is of a grove of a dozen very large Beech growing in a ravine near our garden in Western Michigan. As I walked down into the ravine I could nearly step out onto the large horizontal limbs. One day, lying down on a broad branch, I actually fell asleep under the tree’s immense green umbrella of leaves.

I love seeing Beech all year round. Here are a few photographs of these remarkable trees.

Winter buds silhouetted by the late afternoon sun.

The often horizontal branches of Beech, with a few leaves hanging on all winter, are outlined by new snow.

I could easily spend days simply seeing and photographing the buds of Beech as they change though out the late winter and early spring.

Swollen and beginning to unfurl!

New leaves remain unblemished for only a day or two before they become part of the food chain.

The lovely green light through the Beech canopy is quite unlike anything else.

This fine, old ornamental Weeping Beech lives in Kew Gardens.