At this time of year some of the beech trees (Fagus sylvatica) in Brede High Woods retain their dead, brown leaves.
When I was young my mother and aunts always used to preserve beech leaves with glycerin for indoor flower arrangements, though they used fresh younger leaves for doing this.
I was pleased to note that there are many sites on the Internet that explain how this is done, so the tradition has not been lost.
Although most beech trees lose most of their leaves at the same time as other trees, when they are pruned into hedges the leaves are retained much longer - a valuable feature of a garden beech hedge in winter.
