Planting a birch in the garden - just plan properly

Planting a birch in the garden - just plan properly

A birch in the garden: yes or no

If you are still considering whether to plant a birch in your garden at home, you will gain more clarity with the following pros and cons.

advantages

  • decorative tree in every season
  • undemanding in maintenance, mainly needs a lot of light and water
  • Leaves, bark as well as buds and birch sap can be used for medicine and cosmetics
  • Foliage is very good for compost

also read

  • Planting birch - which season is the best?
  • Pulling a birch from offshoots - that's how it works
  • The birch is a shallow root - what you should know

disadvantage

  • You have to make sure that there are no allergy sufferers in the immediate vicinity
  • in autumn there is a lot of leaves that are difficult to sweep together
  • after the flowering period in spring, the birch covers its surroundings with yellow pollen

The garden design with birch trees

If you want to design a new garden, you can set a wonderful focal point with a single birch. With the distinctive white trunk, the end of a visual axis or the center of the garden can be nicely emphasized. Alternatively, you can create a poetic birch grove by either buying multi-stemmed trees directly or simply by planting a small group of three to five birches together. When planning, consider:

  • Birch trees are extremely in need of light, so they need a location that is as free as possible with enough sunlight or sunny partial shade
  • In addition, there is a high demand for water, and the surrounding plants quickly lose out against the energetic shallow roots

Small-growing species for the garden

The widespread silver birch is not suitable for every garden with a height of up to 30 meters. Thanks to their smaller size, the following types of birch blend in perfectly even with less space:

  • Himalayan birch (Betula utilis Jaquemontii): does not grow taller than ten meters
  • Golden birch (Betula ermanii): hardly higher than Himalayan birch, but even slimmer
  • Japanese birch (Betula japonica)

Preserved the beauty of the birch

In urban gardens, the beautiful white bark quickly turns a dirty greenish coating. Therefore it can make sense to gently scrub the trunk with a brush or sponge if necessary. However, do without the high-pressure cleaner (€ 89.00 at Amazon *) so as not to cause any damage. Preserving the intense white color not only improves the appearance, but also helps the birch with sun protection. After all, the color reflects the light.