Beech

Beech: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Large tree of 25–40 m with a broad, domed, dense crown; as a hedge, dense and easy to clip neatly.

Leaf

Alternate, oval, 5–10 cm, with an entire, wavy edge; young leaves have silky hairs along the margin. 5–9 pairs of parallel veins.

Bark

Smooth and silver-grey, even on very old trees.

Buds

Long, pointed and brown, standing out from the twig: typically ‘cigar-shaped’.

Fruit

Three-sided beechnuts in a spiny husk that splits into four valves (September–October).

Flowering: April–May · Harvest and fruit: April–May and September–October · Pruning: June–September and November–February

Identify by feature: Nuts, acorns and chestnuts

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Hornbeam Carpinus betulus: sharply double-toothed leaf and a fluted, ‘muscular’ trunk. Difference from hornbeam

Why grow it?

• A beautiful hedge that keeps its brown leaves all winter: privacy all year round.
• A stately tree with a smooth silver-grey trunk and golden-brown autumn colour.
• Tolerates shade and grows on most well-drained soils, including chalky ones.
• Old beeches are home to woodpeckers, bats and fungi.

Beech: where does it grow best?

• Sun to shade; young beeches grow well in the shade of other trees.
• Fertile, well-drained soil, including chalky soil; no wet feet or heavy clay that stays wet for long.
• Shallow roots and a dense crown: little grows under a beech.
• As a tree it needs 20 m of space or more; as a hedge it fits any garden.

Light

Sun to shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

35 m tall, 20 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Wood anemone: Flowers in spring under the beech, before it comes into leaf.
• Wild garlic: Like beech, it loves chalky woodland soil and flowers white in April–May.
• Holly: Evergreen and shade-tolerant: green leaves and red berries under a bare crown.
• Sweet woodruff: A fragrant ground cover of beech woods.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Tolerate the shade under this tree: oregon grape, rhododendron, oleaster, japanese skimmia, garden privet, camellia, laurustinus, box-leaved honeysuckle

Best kept away from

• Sun-loving plants get too little light under the dense crown: english lavender, heather, butterfly bush, blackthorn, highbush blueberry, sea buckthorn, japanese rose, broom

Beech: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or root-balled.
2. For a hedge: 3–4 plants per metre in a single row, or 5 per metre in two staggered rows.
3. Loosen the strip beforehand and work in compost; plant at the same depth as in the nursery.
4. Cut hedge plants back by a third after planting: they will then branch out from the base.
5. Water generously and mulch the soil.

Care

Watering

Regularly in dry spells during the first year; beech struggles in long, dry summers.

Feeding

A little compost under a hedge in spring; a tree needs nothing.

Mulch

Keep the ground under a young hedge free of grass and cover it with leaf mould or wood chips.

Bark

A trunk suddenly exposed to the sun gets scorched: never remove many branches at once.

Tip: Plant a mixed hedge of beech and hornbeam: hornbeam copes with wetter soil, so the hedge stays dense everywhere.

Beech: when to prune it?

Pruning months: June–September and November–February.

When: Clip a hedge once, in late July–August, or twice (late June and September). Prune a tree lightly, in summer or winter.

How:

• Clip a hedge slightly narrower at the top than at the bottom, so the base gets light too.
• A hedge clipped in August holds its brown leaves best in winter.
• Wounds on large branches heal poorly: prune a tree mainly while it is young.
• Suddenly exposed trunks get sunscald: never remove many branches at once.

Caution: Don’t clip during the nesting season while birds are still nesting in the hedge: check first.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Sowing

Sow fresh beechnuts outdoors in autumn in a pot or seedbed; they germinate in spring. Protect them from mice.

Grafting

Copper beech and weeping forms are grafted onto common beech; that is a job for the nursery.

Beech: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• A clipped hedge and young trees keep their dry, brown leaves until April: they drop when the new buds open.

Diseases and pests

• Beech woolly aphid: White, woolly tufts under the leaves in spring, with sticky honeydew. Usually harmless: ladybirds clear them up. Spray with water if needed.
• Bark scorch: Cracking and dieback of the bark on the sunny side after sudden exposure or heat. Keep side branches and neighbours that shade the trunk.
• Drought: Brown leaf edges and early leaf fall in dry summers, especially on sandy soil. Water young plants and cover the soil.
• Giant polypore: Large brown brackets in rosettes at the base: root rot. Have an arborist check the tree’s stability.

Through the year

• January: Plant bare-root plants in mild weather.
• March: Last month for planting; compost under the hedge.
• April: New leaves: the hedge’s brown leaves now fall.
• May: Watch for woolly aphids; water a young hedge in dry spells.
• June: First hedge clip (late June), once no birds are nesting.
• July: Water in dry spells.
• August: Clip the hedge (late July–August): the leaves then hang on best in winter.
• September: Second clip if you clip twice a year; beechnuts fall.
• October: Golden-brown autumn colour.
• November: Planting season starts.

What can you use it for?

Wood

Hard wood for furniture, chairs (bentwood beech), toys, flooring and firewood.

Food and drink

Beechnuts are edible roasted, but don’t eat too many raw.

Garden and landscape

A beautiful hedge that holds on to its brown leaves until spring; copper beech as a specimen tree.

For wildlife

Old beech woods are the domain of woodpeckers, bats and fungi.

Edible and useful

Leaves (April–May)

The young, silky, pale green leaves just after they unfold, in late April and early May. They taste fresh and slightly sour, raw in a salad or in a liqueur. After a week or two they turn tough.

Nuts (September–October)

Beechnuts fall in September and October, especially in ‘mast years’ when beech fruits heavily. Toast them briefly in a dry pan and eat them in moderation, over a salad or as a snack.

Storing

Dry unshelled nuts and keep them dry. Shelled and toasted, they keep for a few weeks in a closed jar; they soon go rancid.

Caution: Do not eat raw beechnuts in large amounts: they contain substances that cause stomach upset. Toasting helps, but stick to a handful. Many nuts are empty; throw away hollow husks. Pick well away from busy roads and sprayed fields, and never eat anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Beech-leaf liqueur (Liqueur · ± 0.8 litre · 20 min + 2 weeks steeping)
• Toasted beechnuts (Dish · 1 handful, as a topping · 20 min)
• Beech leaf pesto (Dish · ± 1 jar of 200 ml · 15 min)
• Beechnut brittle (Other · ± 250 g · 40 min + 1 hr setting)

Good for wildlife

Birds

Berries, seeds or insects as food, or a place to nest.

Bats

Attracts insects in the evening that bats hunt.

Caterpillars

Host plant: caterpillars of butterflies or moths eat the leaves.

Hedgehogs

Shelter and a layer of leaf litter full of insects.

Did you know?

• The Sonian Forest near Brussels is famous for its ‘beech cathedral’. Copper beech is a form with dark red leaves.
• The Sonian Forest near Brussels is famous for its ‘beech cathedral’. The copper beech is a form with dark red leaves.
• The word ‘book’ comes from ‘beech’: the ancient Germanic peoples carved runes into beechwood tablets.
• A beech hedge that keeps its brown leaves is a winter shelter for blackbirds and sparrows.
• The words ‘book’ and ‘beech’ are related: a common explanation is that Germanic peoples carved their runes into beech-wood tablets.
• Beeches do not produce many nuts every year, but every few years they all crop heavily at once: a mast year. Mice and birds cannot eat them all, so plenty of beechnuts survive to germinate.