Letter: Lessons learned under Little Compton’s Weeping Beech

Posted 6/21/17

To the editor:

Little Compton at its ball field has a beautiful Weeping Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) which was planted at the bicentennial of the country in 1976 by the then tree warden Angelo …

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Letter: Lessons learned under Little Compton’s Weeping Beech

Posted

To the editor:

Little Compton at its ball field has a beautiful Weeping Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) which was planted at the bicentennial of the country in 1976 by the then tree warden Angelo Tavares assisted by George Goulart Jr who later also was the tree warden.

The tree whose branches sweep down to the ground and which forms a “magical cave of dappled light” was loved so much by the Kindergarden classes of Wilbur & McMahon school that they asked the Little Compton Tree Committee (LCTC) in 2015 if they could adopt the tree.

Without a minute’s hesitation that came to be and each year the LCTC meets under the tree with the teachers, Marianne Vareika and Jennifer Segala and children and sometimes in their classroom to learn how to care for the tree plus a little bit of early photosynthesis from biochemist Julie McGeoch of the LCTC.

This year we met on Monday, June 12, and Jason Burchard, the present Little Compton tree warden, answered many questions posed by eager tree lovers on what and what not to do to care for a Weeping Beech – carving your name on the trunk a no no – playing under its branches – a yes yes.

Jason and his team of horticulturalists care diligently for the tree and recently, via a donation from Cynthia Sheldon of the LCTC, new organic mulch was applied. This prevents water loss and root damage via feet and really helps the tree when we have a dry summer like that of 2016.

A few seeds of early science are always on the agenda under the Beech – we compare the tree to a person and the hands shoot up wanting to answer – how does a tree breath?, what things does a tree need – water, light, can a tree run away from danger like you and how does it recover when a branch breaks – Jason here explained how the cork layer covers over the wound on the trunk.

Finally oxygen output from the tree is very important. Without that from this tree and all plants on Earth, none of us breath. All the children knew that – up went their hands; they are on the way to great things in their lives and will probably always love trees.

Julie McGeoch

Little Compton

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