Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
Trees are pretty ruthless about getting rid of parts of themselves they no longer need – leaves jettisoned as soon as they have reached the end of their useful lives, every last drop of nourishment sucked out of them, the airlock at the base of the petiole (leaf stem) sealed off before the withered husks are let go to flutter groundwards or be taken up by the gusting wind. A very few trees can be a little more clingy. In a phenomenon known as marcescence, beech, hornbeam and even oak will retain leaves throughout the winter, only dropping them when fresh growth in spring finally nudges the zombie foliage from twig and branch. It’s a behaviour seen particularly in juvenile plants or the more youthful growth on mature trees, which perhaps only goes to show that age and peer pressure will inevitably cure us all from sentimental attachments.
A year of garden coaching
I’m very excited about my new venture – it’s a way for me to work with more people than I can physically get around to, helping them to make the very best of their gardens in a way that suits the life they lead. If you’d like to find out more, please click here to book for a January 2020 start.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
