Beech vs Vine
Beech criticizes and Vine decides. If you notice everything and say nothing, that is Beech. If you notice everything and reorganize it, that is Vine.
Beech
Intolerance, finding other people's habits and mistakes genuinely irritating
Vine
Naturally in charge, and inclined to take over whether or not you were asked
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Why they get muddled
Both sit in Bach's over-care group, both belong to capable people, and both create the same distance from everybody else over time. The difference is what you do about what you have seen.
The differences
What you want
Beech
For it to be right. Correctness rather than control.
Vine
For it to be done. You see what needs doing and you say so.
What you actually do
Beech
Usually nothing out loud, which is why it accumulates all afternoon.
Vine
You take over, including in situations where nobody asked you to.
How people respond
Beech
They have no idea. Most of the annoyance never leaves your head.
Vine
They stop offering opinions, because you are usually right and it is hard to push back.
What it costs
Beech
An afternoon lost to things nobody else even registered.
Vine
A team that does what it is told and never tells you anything useful.
Which one to pick
Choose Beech if
- Small habits and mistakes go through you like a wire
- You do not say anything, and it builds all day
- The noticing has become automatic, and a bit unkind
Choose Vine if
- You are good in a crisis and everybody knows it
- A project got reorganized because you could see a better way
- People around you have gone quiet, and you have noticed
What if both sound right?
They travel together in the person who sees every flaw and then fixes it whether or not it was theirs to fix. Both are worth taking if that is the description, and Beech is often the one that makes the taking over feel less necessary.
Common questions
Is Vine a harsh description?
It reads that way on the page, and it is worth saying that Bach thought of Vine as a strength that had hardened rather than a fault. The capability is real and people rely on it. Like all 38 it is chosen for yourself, and it lands badly if it is pointed at somebody else.
What is the difference between Vine and Vervain?
Whether you argue. Vervain will talk you round because being understood matters, and it keeps going long after the conversation should have ended. Vine does not argue at all. It decides, says so, and moves on, which is why it is so hard for anyone to push back.
Can I choose Beech for somebody else?
You can read it for somebody else, and plenty of people arrive at these pages that way. Choosing is different. The remedies work from recognizing yourself in a description, and a remedy handed to someone with the implication that they are the problem tends to go badly whatever the description says.
Keep narrowing
The pairs closest to this one, if neither of these two turns out to be it.
HollyvsBeech
Holly burns and Beech grates. If there is a person and a feeling with heat in it, that is Holly. If it is everybody and everything and it never quite reaches anger, that is Beech.
ImpatiensvsBeech
Impatiens is irritated by how slowly things move. Beech is irritated by how other people are. One is about speed, the other about habits.
HollyvsWillow
Holly is hot and aimed at a person. Willow is cold and aimed at life in general. Jealousy against bitterness.
Cherry PlumvsImpatiens
Impatiens snaps. Cherry Plum is afraid of what it might do. If the problem is the temper itself, that is Impatiens. If the problem is that you no longer trust yourself to hold it, that is Cherry Plum.
Still not sure?
Read both profiles in full, or start from the feeling and let the quiz narrow it for you.