Birch trees

Birches are particularly graceful trees, usually with attractive bark, and interesting leaves.

How to choose Birch trees

The birch family is characterised by graceful trees, often with interesting bark with a range of colours from dark brown to pure white. They will grow in a wide range of situations, preferring acidic conditions but many forms will tolerate chalk soils. They are relatively fast-growing trees.

Birches make good specimen trees, but are also very effective when planted in small groups. Their leaves are fairly small, so they provide shade whilst not blocking out light altogether. Most have an upright habit, but there are several with pendulous shoots which hang down from their branches.

Many birches will naturally become multi-stemmed. This desirable feature can be actively encouraged in very young bare-root trees by topping them at around 40cm-50cm, which will cause new shoots to grow from the base of the stem. In the second season after doing this, select 3-5 of the strongest new shoots and remove the rest.

The combination of interesting bark and branch structure makes birches particularly attractive in the winter, and if you are looking for a specimen tree with strong winter interest they are a good starting point.

There are many species to choose from, but two which stand out are the Himalayan birch (Betula utilis) and the native Silver birch (Betula pendula). We have several varieties of both these species.

Most of our birch trees are grafted on Betula alba rootstocks.

Birch trees

How to choose Birch trees

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