Bog Blog

One observation that struck me at Brown’s Bog was seeing the beech tree with some of its leaves still clinging desperately onto the branches. On this dreary winter’s day, all of the other trees were completely devoid of vegetation so the beech tree really stuck out, despite its leaves being dead and yellow instead of alive and green. Professor Bourne explained to us that only young beech trees have the ability to retain their leaves. This image of the young, stubborn beech tree refusing to de-leaf reminded me of a fond memory of my childhood. In our backyard, we have a beech tree much like the one at Brown’s bog. Every winter, my mother and I would go out into our backyard and she would comment on how we need to give this tree a “haircut” because she was just like me and hated “cutting her hair”. Together, my mom and I would pull these dead leaves off of the branches one by one so that they could regrow in the springtime. I don’t know if this actually helped that process, but it was a nice ritual. I always thought that our beech tree was just stubborn and refused to let go of her hair, and was always delighted when the green leaves would appear in the spring, proud to have helped her embrace a new haircut.