The Beech of the Boschwijk Avenue

In 1799 the mayor of Zwolle published a 34 verse poem about this garden. Rhijnvis Feith owned Boschwijk, a small country house not far outside the city, and he was one of the best known Dutch poets of his generation as well as a magistrate and mayor. He came out here in his free time specifically to write. 'Ode aan Boschwijk' is the result, and it is about this ground. The beech is banded 1750 to 1800, which means it was somewhere between a sapling and a young tree while he was writing. It stands on the west side of the beukenloofgang, the beech avenue, which is the feature of the place: two rows planted close so the crowns meet overhead and make a green tunnel. A beech avenue is a designed effect that takes a century to work and then works forever. It is also a slow-motion contest, because beeches planted that close spend their lives shading each other out, so the ones that survive are the ones that got up fastest. Go in early May, when the new leaves are still translucent green and the tunnel glows rather than darkens.