Hoyt Arboretum, Portland, Oregon, USA

Common name: Tricolor European beech

Family: Fagaceae

Distribution: Garden Origin

IUCN Red list: Not evaluated

Hardiness: Zone 4b -25 to -20 F

Life form: Deciduous tree

Usage: Ornamental shade tree

Comments: ‘Purpurea Tricolor’ is an extremely attractive, smaller form of European beech featuring tricolor variegation. It typically grows to 30’ tall and from a distance projects a rose foliage color in spring. The variegation is actually a bit more complicated. Foliage typically emerges in spring as purple with pink margins, changes to dark bronze-green with pale pink (later white) margins in summer and finally turns bronze-gold in fall. Leaves to 4” long have prominent parallel veins. Nomenclature on this beech cultivar is a bit confusing. ‘Purpurea Tricolor’ is the preferred name and is synonymous with ‘Roseomarginata’. The old French cultivar called ‘Tricolor’ (green leaves edged with pink changing to white) is extremely rare and may no longer be circulating to any extent in commerce in the U. S. Many plants sold today as ‘Tricolor’ may in fact be ‘Purpurea Tricolor’ (Royal Horticultural Society Plant Finder lists: ‘Tricolor’ misapplied see F. sylvatica ‘Purpurea Tricolor’).
Best grown in deep, rich, moist but well-drained soils in full sun to part shade.