What would
intrigue a 5 year old about a birch tree
is anyone’s guess, but one of this
gardener’s earliest childhood memories
is of my Dad letting me help him plant a
tiny white birch sapling in our front
yard in Michigan. I remember him
explaining how the hole had to be dug
and the little tree positioned just
right with the right kind of soil added,
and of course the tree had to be watered
daily. Well, from that day on I had a
special love for these beauties. Maybe
it’s just because of the special
childhood memory, or maybe birches have
a mysterious ability to lure us to them
with their white, creamy or salmon curly
and peeling bark. Or, perhaps it’s their
light and airy habit as their leaves
seem to flicker in the breeze, and their
branches sway gracefully from a single
trunk or clump of trunks.
Birches are
deciduous trees in the family Betulacea..
The word "birch" originates from ancient
Sanskrit language meaning "tree bark
used for writing on". It is believed
that the bark of these trees was once
used for paper similar to papyrus.
There are many
varieties of birches, but the more
common ones you see native to this area
are called river birch (Betula nigra).
They love acidic, wet or even flooded
areas, but can survive dry, alkaline
soils, although, in these soils their
leaves may turn yellow and drop. They
seem to tolerate extreme heat, but need
plenty of water to keep their leaves
from burning and dropping. If you plant
a birch, be ready for it to be a fast
grower and reach up to approximately 40
feet wide and 70 feet tall by the time
it’s 30 years old. So, in other words,
give birches plenty of room to grow.
The leaves of
river birches are usually glossy and
dark green on their upper side, lighter
green on the underside. The leaves tend
to be shaped like diamonds, hence they
look as though they are flickering in a
breeze. Birches produce male catkins up
to 3 inches long and female flowers up
to an inch long, but the flowers are not
significant or showy. While birches tend
to lose their leaves a little earlier in
autumn, if they are not deprived of
moisture, they will display beautiful
golden, yellow and brown leaves with
cinnamon-colored twigs and branches.
While all of the
birches have their unique elegance, some
are more adaptable and disease and pest
resistant than others for this area.
Since the river birch is a native of
this area, that makes it more adaptable
than some of its cousins like paper
birch or European white birch. Heritage
or "Cully" cultivar tends to be
resistant to the Bronze Birch Borer and
in general considered the most trouble
free. Heritage is also known for being
more resistant to leaf spot and its bark
is a rich creamy color, as it peels away
from an almost orange colored trunk.
River birches tend to be susceptible to
aphids and caterpillars under less than
ideal conditions.
As mentioned
earlier, birches come in single trunks
and multi-trunks (called clumps). They
tend to send up new shoots from the
ground, so you may want to cut these off
for a cleaner look and to reveal more of
the interesting bark. I often trim the
branches of my birches up to about 3
feet from the ground so I can enjoy that
intriguing bark revealed beneath a wispy
canopy.
Birches are
beautiful whether they are planted in
landscape gardens or alone as a specimen
tree. While white birches are popular
because of their beautiful stark white
bark, the river birch has more subtle,
rich, creamy colors and adds its own
beauty to just about any landscape. They
are easy to transplant and do well when
transplanted in the spring or fall when
rainfall is heavier. They need little or
no maintenance once they become
established, and under ideal conditions
will even naturalize. The scaly bark so
characteristic of birches, makes them
ideal providers of year round interest
for your garden. After the leaves fall
in autumn, you will continue to enjoy
the richly textured hues of cream, brown
and cinnamon bark throughout winter.
My family moved
from Michigan before my little birch got
very big, but I continued to keep track
of it with the people who bought our
house. Eventually, that little birch
grew so big, it hovered over the roof of
that house, gracefully providing
wonderful shade and becoming the envy of
the neighborhood.
Read other articles on trees
Read other articles
by
Kathy Green-Adelsberger
