The Copper Beech

 Winter a couple of years ago Lib was having cataracts removed at the private hospital in Neerim South when I visited a local nursery as I had time to kill. The nursery I had been to previously when I bought an advanced lemon tree a year or two before as a gift for my friend Maria when she moved into her current house from her farm on the Macclesfield Rd. It saved me $135 to go pick it up rather than delivered.

I'd seen on the website the owner, or one of, was named Crestani. I remembered there was a bloke who lived on the Beacy Rd Emerald who had a laurel hedge at the front and he allowed me to cut foliage from it back when I used to sell a lot of laurel. He was a self made mechanic and panel beater and worked on damaged cars that he bought cheap and did up and sold. He impressed me with his knowledge and generosity so for some years he serviced my van. He sold up many years ago and I recalled he went to Neerim South.

So it was with some glee that I found his daughter was the proprietor of the nursery and I called there while Lib was having her eye op. Had a nice chat and bought a small copper beech as a memento. I took it to the farm the next summer where I knew it'd be watered if we were away. It was still there the next summer, I didn't know where to plant it, no room at home and with dozens of mature beech trees at the farm I would have had to make room for it somewhere to no real advantage.

So it came with us last March when we moved to McCracken. There's really no room here for a beech tree over time as they grow so big. But seeing as we removed a large sycamore in our back yard in the months after we got here we decided to plant it in our little patch of grass where it will one day give summer shade but not reduce sun in winter. While I'm alive and able it will not grow big and trouble neighbours as I'll prune it desired size and shape.

I feel a strong attachment to this little tree. I look at it every day expecting it will burst bud into leaf some time in October as did the trees at the farm. Beech foliage was such a big part of our business, I picked it every week from November to March for forty years. I haven't seen one beech tree in gardens around here so I'm hoping the soil and rainfall will be suitable although I do hold some reservation. Definitely a beech tree is of symbolic value to me. So here's hoping.

The tree is the foreground of the photo. You will notice it's grand final day. I'll post another photo in a month or two if the tree successfully springs into foliage and growth.

Small things can bring great joy.