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| 5/13/15 |
I planted several river birches each year starting in spring 2007. I got some from Forestfarm, a bare root one from Arborday, a five gallon container tree from Lexington Gardens and one from Lowe's. Most are probably 'Heritage', except for the one on the right side of the berm -- its bark is noticeably different -- shaggy but not as colorful, and it is probably the straight species.
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| 11/12/2010 just four years after I planted a 10 inch twig! |
All have grown immensely fast; the bare root twig on the berm went from a tiny stick to a beautiful multi trunk specimen in four years as seen above. That spot gets quite a bit of pooled water at the edge of the berm when it rains, and the river birch here has grown the fastest, but they are all quick growers.
They are late to leaf out in spring. Fall color on all of them is a nice yellow. The bark, even in the first few years is peeling and pinkish.
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| 7/14/11 the bareroot twig from Arborday, after 5 years |
They are graceful and kind of open, giving a real "woodland" look to plantings. They can be messy and rangy, and I have had to prune them for shape and size many times each season.
Don't prune in spring when the sap is running. They don't get leaf spot like the white paper birches do.
River birches really are water lovers as the name says. In spring they put out a lot of leaves, and then in summer they will start to drop them and turn yellow. The trees are fine, it just looks drought stressed at times.
The river birches on the berm have gotten larger than the spruces and are crowding them. When the river birches have no leaves in winter and early spring, the architectural look and peeling bark are nice against the evergreens, but in summer it's clear they are too big for the space. What to do . . .
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| 9/24/14 |
Two of the spruces on the berm were taken out at the end of 2014, and the area is open now. in 2015. The river birch is no longer crowded. I limbed it up quite a bit.
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| 5/13/15 |
The bark really is amazing.
