Got Birch?

Ya, you Betula! While most think we're known as the great white north for snow accumulation (not to mention milk production), the ubiquitous Paperbark Birch deserves some credit as well. I spent the better part of this morning sitting on the tractor moving a winters-worth of horse manure from under the sheds, which gave me plenty of mental down time to focus on the various Birch I've got growing on the place. Here are a few pics to show this transformation.

This one is about 3-5 years old. No white at this early juncture, just a nice cinnamon color.

This one is maybe 7-10 years old. The main stem below crown has turned white, but everything above still cinnamon.

Next in line would be around 12 years, with main stems white all the way to top.

But the branches maintaining they're nice juvenile color. This is maybe my favorite stage of this tree.

And finally, an all white mature Paperbark showing strong maternal instinct by nursing a couple of White Pine orphans.

Ah, the trump card all you Northerners resort to when our stuff starts coming into its vernal glory and you're still in winter. And to be honest with you, it stings. Really stings. I don't know if I'd shave off six to eight weeks of spring and fall and knock the temperatures down 10 or 20 degrees in winter in exchange for being able to grow birches, but I would give it plenty of thought!

Those are real treasures. Thanks for posting the shots. If you were, say, 600 or 700 miles closer, I'd take some of that manure off your hands for you!

Scott

Scott,

Geez, was it that obvious? You have to play the cards you're dealt, but I'm blaming you and Escambiaguy for forcing my hand. Every year about this time I know you'll be making your trek to Spring Grove to bring back sumptuous pictures of flowering trees & shrubs while I'm still waiting for the final bit of snow to melt away. And Chad's pictures of rediculously lush gardens from Alabama were especially cruel, considereing they were posted while we were getting hammered by an early March snow storm. So, yes, I'm guilty of playing the Birch card in a weak (and transparent) attempt to make myself feel better. Zone envy is never a pretty thing to witness. Hey, wanna see some pics of my manure pile?

You guys would love my river birch. I planted it in a low spot in my yard to suck up the water that would puddle after a decent rain. It was a skinny 5 ft tree when I planted it 6 years ago. It's about 30-35 ft right now. You can almost see it grow after heavy rain.

It got rid of the water puddling.

Well, we have happy birch here too. These are Betula nigra Heritage™ in Louisville, KY. Been in the ground about a dozen years.

Those're only 12 years old? That's crazy. I may have to plant one (a multiple-trunked specimen) in front of my blue spruce. I was going to look for an amelanchier. That hardly seems worthy now. I may not live here in 12 years, but hopefully, I will live at least that long LOL. Heritage® is the borer-resistant cultivar right?

Maackia:

I herewith and forthrightly beseech your eminence for my lack of due courtesy and hereby apply props for the excellent images, notwithstanding any intent of zone envy.

PartiallyGratuitous:

Heritage® river birch was selected by Earl Cully (Jacksonville IL) for hardiness and great peeling salmony bark at a young age. Like all river birch around here, it grows pretty quickly given average soils and moisture.

This grouping flanks a small perennial stream in Seneca Park, and the entry to Seneca Gardens neighborhood along Trevilian Way in Louisville. It has variously been mowed turf and unmaintained wild pioneer jungle. The level areas to the rear stay generally moist due to groundwater emergence at bedrock from higher ground further away. Birch like that.

As far as I know, river birch is not prone to borers particularly. I suppose if you stress the heck out of them, they could contract about any kind of pestilence. I hear aphids and chlorosis as the two major problems, so check the pH (should try to be no higher than 7.0; 6.0 would be better) and keep an eye on moisture levels until you get growth rate going. Three feet a year is not unsatisfactory.

You Betula, indeed.

Hmmm, going to have to reconsider. However, I I want something that stays in scale, so may have to look further into it.

Permanently Game

I hope one day to visit a house that I lived in not far from here that had white bark and was rubbery (I could push in a little with my finger, I always thought that was odd) I climbed the tree as a kid and I haven't been back since. That was about 28 years ago. I wonder if it was European White Birch, its not out of zone and its not native, but interesting nonetheless. In a book it says its short-lived, so it might not still be there, someday I'll have a closer look. Its in the backyard, I can't see it by driving by.

Jacksonville, Illinois eh. That city is the city where I found out the starter had gone out in my car. I pulled in to get gas and my car would'nt restart afterwards. I ended up walking to the Scott County, Illinois sheriff department (I think Jacksonville is the county seat) about 2 blocks away to ask for help. A deputy on duty (who was also their fleet mechanic) tapped on the starter in my car while I turned the ignition key. It started! I had tried that before but I couldn't start it and tap it simultaneously, I was overjoyed that it started. I went on to Petersburg, Ill and had to leave my car running that visit. Perhaps I'll get a Heritage to look back at that experience!
Will

It is odd that as adults we just don't experience trees in the same ways we used to, LOL.

VV--Word.

One I photographed up by Denali last week. This is Betula 'Freeze Your Bottom' -15 that afternoon.

This message was edited Mar 27, 2007 9:59 PM

Well, now I've seen it all. A knock-kneed tree.

You do the same thing when you are shivering. Or maybe the tree had too many beers.

Probably that's it, the other trees look like they're trying to politely ignore him, while he starts telling the same joke about the bear and the mountain.