Holy moly! Here's a brand-new shoot of one of the dozen variegated European beeches that, along with a dozen purple thread-leaved European beeches, are forming my Belgian fence. The pattern of its variegation is nothing like that of the rest.

Unlike their American cousin, European beeches are very free with their mutations. There are dozens of cultivars available, and a new one seems to come on the market each year. None of them looks like this one, though.

The Spring foliage of European beech trees is particularly vivid—especially those cultivars whose foliage is colorful in the first place. I'm forming my Belgian fence of two spectacular forms. Foliage of the thread-leaved beech is purple in addition to being strikingly narrow.

The leaves of the variegated form emerge bright yellow-green, but the pattern of variegation doesn't reveal itself until Summer.

Flowers and eager young growth are Spring's big themes, so plants whose leaves are dying really stick out. This redneck rhododendron has plenty of yellow leaves that are, clearly, at the end of their lifespan. But how's the shrub itself doing?