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.