River Birch 'Shiloh Splash'

Maybe on my 4th/5th year since planting. It is in bright partial shade, with enough full sun in different periods. In zone 4 winter, I ma...Read Moreke sure to pile the mulch high for extra insulation. During summer, it can get brown edges, but I think insufficient moisture may be an issue during hot weather. Leaf galls is the worse issue I have had for this tree. I treated it with a systemic in springtime, but I probably used an older bottle, as some of it appeared late summer. Galls are common for birch. Will do 2 treatment and spray something as well and keep this updated to the progress. Reversion has not been problematic. It is a slow grower for me, but I do have it in a more challenged strip garden next to the driveway.

I have one of these trees newly planted beside my patio. It is a young tree and the nursery from which I purchased assured me it would st...Read Moreay relatively small. As I researched it online I have read and received mixed reviews as to just how large these trees can get (anywhere from 8 ft - 30 ft) and I'm not sure what to believe. If it is to grow tall I will likely move it soon. As a young tree it does not fare well in wind and mine started to arch so i have it staked, although an arborist told me that tree doesn't like to be staked. The leaves are beautifully varigated and caterpillars and lady bugs seem to enjoy spending time on it. The bark is white and peeling. Very interesting in the garden.

I've been growing it now going on 10 years, on two properties, one in zone 5, one in 6. It has been a vigorous, apparently disease free g...Read Morerower, much more robust than any of the red-leaved Betula cultivars I've tried. The one in zone 6 is in full baking sun, with only minimal sun scorch even in August. The leaves grow smaller with narrower margins than those I have in 5 with partial shade. The result is less of a variegated impact from a distance. My one big complaint is that there is a substantial amount of reversion. No big deal now that it is still manageable from the ground, but am I going to want to be climbing a ladder to keep it pruned and fully variegated when I am 10 years older? The nursery which I got it from soon after it was first released assured me that there was little or no reversion. I was suspicious that they could make such a statement so soon after it became available, since obviously it hadn't yet been established for long, and my suspicion has come to be true. It is also one of the few patented plants which I have ever bought, since I don't believe in it.

Overall I like it and would recommend it, especially in part shade. It isn't perfect, (is there a variegated tree cultivar which is?) but it is very nice. A relatively fast grower for a variegated tree as well.

I changed my rating today from positive to neutral. My prediction has come true much sooner than I anticipated. Yesterday I spent a half hour pruning all reverted shoots from this year, after doing the same after it fully leafed out in the spring. If just an hour of pruning a year were all that it took I'd be overjoyed, but it has grown very quickly, and I could barely reach the top shoots with an 8' step ladder. Soon it will need a larger one, and the branching and foliage are so thick that the uppermost internal shoots may be impossible to access. The reverted shoots are also robust and grow vigorously. If left undisturbed they will take over and ruin the balance of both the color and shape of the tree. During these pruning episodes I also removed dozens of individual reverted leaves which would have given rise to more shoots. Looking closely today I noticed a few dozen more which I had missed. It will be impossible to get them all on a mature tree.

My next prediction is that I will end up cutting the whole thing down and replacing it with something more reliable in a few years. Too bad that I wasted 6 years waiting for this tree to fill out and act as a blind in the intended location. I'm not getting any younger, and this time will have to shell out a good deal of money for a more mature specimen of a better tree.

Nursery managers and owners; if you are reading, do your customers and ultimately yourself a favor. Hire knowledgeable staff. If you must hire warm bodies just to answer the phone or run the register, train them to say that they don't know if asked a question to which they are not 100% sure of the answer. I suppose it's too much to ask for that they go find someone who might, but that would be nice too. I now have a very bad taste in my mouth for the woody plant mail order nursery in NJ from which I ordered this tree. Not sure I will buy anything from them again. I sure ask won't trust any advice that they give me.