Young beech trees hold onto many of their leaves in the winter. They make me very happy and look like confetti. So I made some bunting from discarded beech leaves to enjoy on my porch.

The process of holding onto leaves through winter is called marcescence and scientists think it might happen to protect buds from browsing deer in the winter, provide an extra jolt of fertilizer in the spring, or attract more snow to the base of the tree for moisture.