A birch in the garden: yes or no
If you are still wondering whether it is the right choice, you should have one in your garden at home Planting birch, gains more clarity with the following pros and cons.
advantages
- decorative tree in every season
- undemanding to care for, 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 - this is 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 Heyday 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 tree. 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, keep in mind:
- Birch trees are extremely in need of light, so they need a location that is as free as possible with enough sunlight or sunny penumbra
- 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 taller than Himalayan birch, but even slimmer
- Japanese birch (Betula japonica)
Preserved the beauty of the birch
In urban gardens, the beautiful white bark quickly gets 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,(€ 99.99 at Amazon *) so as not to cause harm. Preserving the intense white color not only improves the appearance, but also helps the birch tree to protect it from the sun. After all, the color reflects the light.
