These clinging leaves must be driving my neighbor across the street crazy since he is out there almost every day once leaves start to drop sucking them up with his leaf blower LOL. This year was phenomenal in number and size and quality. I’m curious if the old leaves, though ‘dead’, could be directly supplying nutrients back to the budding branch, before falling off. In years with early freezes tree leaves may be killed before developing an abscission layer, resulting in persistent brown leaves on many trees that aren’t usually marcescent. And we’ve also got the relative newcomers with short-lived leaves – birch, maple, cherry, and aspen, for example. Here’s a summary of the phenomenon by an Extension expert in Minnesota: “Deciduous trees are supposed to drop their leaves in autumn, right? I walk my dog a lot and noticed a tree with leaves on it. We do not know whether marcescence provides a competitive benefit to beech and oak, but we do know that these two species are closely related; they are in the same family (beech). I can use SOME as mulch, but most get sucked up by big city machine that then takes them to the landfill to be turned into topsoil. I have also read that regardless of the weather, oak trees will produce bumper crops of acorns every second year. I would like to plant some to replace my dozens of Sandy victims and if I get them about six feet tall, could I hope for more than two or three years before they get too grown up for the look I admire? Thanks for answering a question I’ve been asking every winter as I admire the pinky beige leaves giving roadside woods color when otherwise pretty dull. My theory based on the observation of our Paterson oaks is that the male oaks did their duty in Spring and can shut down and let go to sleep once they’ve produced enough sugar for bud break next Spring. Others suggest that retained leaves, particularly on young trees and the lower branches on bigger trees, is an effective means of trapping snow like a fence, leading to more moisture at the base of the trees come spring. Is this a sign of distress? Marcescence may indeed be helpful to trees living in dry, cold, deer-infested environments. One possible advantage my son suggests is that the leaves on these trees seem to be more completely “stripped” down to a pale, low weight version of the leaves that come down in autumn—could the trees also be taking more from them? As the girdled tree decays, the smaller trees around it grow and take up the space once occupied by the girdled tree. OMG - A LEAF MAY BLOW OFF MID WINTER ONTO A LAWN. While physiologists agree that marcescence is a juvenile trait, most commonly observed on young trees and on lower branches, there is considerable debate about why some species would seem to be deciduous in all other respects except that they delay the physiological process of leaf shedding. Some drop their leaves in the fall & some hold on to some leaves until spring. I typed in Google search “oak tree still has leaves” and yours was the first answer. You answered my question about beech leaf retention. Thank you for this great posting. Last year, not so much. Some ecologists suggest that marcescence has adaptive significance for trees growing on dry, infertile sites. We have a sugar maple in the backyard which is split forming a v shape a couple of feet up. A related topic: acorns. Deciduous leaf fall, on the other hand, is considered an adaptation that evolved to allow trees in seasonally changing environments to reduce water loss and frost damage during unfavorable seasons while increasing their photosynthetic efficiency during favorable seasons. As a somewhat avid walker/hiker, I have always wondered why the leaves did cling to some trees longer. I’ve always only been interested in heavy metal and softball, never thought I’d be looking up why the leaves won’t fall from only one of my trees. Notice that it is relatively easy to pull the winter leaf off these trees. | Terms of Service | Privacy PolicySite by eBree Design. Acorns are high in tannin and squirrels bury them not only in caching frenzy but because putting them in the wet ground leaches out some of the tannin, otherwise only the top part of the nut is palatable to them when the acorns first drop—which is why you see so many partially eaten acorns. Beech and oak are believed to have originated in more southern climes and it’s been said that these species “have not yet perfected the deciduous habit.” A Master Gardener suggested the trees felt stressed by the drought and produced more “babies” to ensure long-term survival. Marcescence, trees that retain their leaves long after others have dropped, could be a marker left to us by God in certain trees that provide fall and winter food to people and the animal kingdom, in addition to the other reasons you have enumerated. So far this winter trees are falling over everywhere on lines into road and near rivers and streams. It was the end of March btw so those leaves have been there for quite some time and ive never seen leaves turn white. I learned a great deal. Nearly Native Nursery is one of the only local nurseries to sell the American Beech. one in Paterson, NJ: massive 80 year old oaks that were clearly part of the original 1939 landscape design and a lot of wild cherry and maple saplings the previous owner let grow up on the perimeter of this corner lot as a screen. Northern Woodlands assumes no responsibility or liability arising from forum postings and reserves the right to edit all postings. The wind’s been blowing hard for three days: cherry, maple saplings and male oaks just about naked. Browse and purchase gardening books by Walter Reeves, plus select titles by other authors. It may be winter, but these beech trees at Knox State Park in East Aurora, New York still have leaves on them. The thinking is that retaining leaves until spring could be a means of slowing the decomposition of the leaves (they would rot faster if on the ground) and that dropping them in spring delivers organic material (think compost or mulch) at a time when it is most needed by the growing parent tree.