It may not be the biggest or best deciduous shade tree, but European white birch, Betula pendula, is famous for tall and elegant white trunks with wispy pendulous stems. It is a very informal tree that typically leans in one way or another, but is somehow right at home in refined landscapes. It is rarely alone, since it is usually planted with two or more friends, and sometimes in groves.
Not many of the biggest European white birch trees are more than fifty feet tall locally. (They can get bigger in cooler climates.) The slender trunks do not get much more than a foot and a half wide. As trees mature, the smooth white bark develops rough black furrows. The small triangular leaves turn soft yellow in autumn. The somewhat sparse foliage makes only moderate shade.
‘Laciniata’ has lacy lobed leaves, and stands straighter and narrower. ‘Youngii’ is so pendulous that it can barely stand up without staking.
I love these trees and planted 3 of them in our NZ garden. I wonder if they are still there, they will be nearly 40 years old if they are
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In our climate, they do not live for very long. Those that were planted here in the early 1970s are getting old now. They get bigger in climates with colder winters, but they do not last much longer.
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They are so beautiful in groves or forests. Amazing. The groves I’ve seen are in Wisconsin.
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The specie in Wisconsin are different, but they look similar. We have nothing like them here naturally, so we must plant exotics for the same effect.
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Lovely trees that reminds me of my Swedish childhood.
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This tree happens to be native to Sweden. incidentally, it is sometimes planted here to resemble birches of Eastern North America, just because it does better in our climate than those from Eastern North America.
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