Betula Jacquemontii Birch

The Himalayan Birch (Betula) Jacquemontii has attractive bright white bark and dark green leaves

Carefully positioned, specimen trees can transform that rather nice garden into something sensational.

The Silver Birch native to Scotland is very effective creating dappled shade with its small leaves.

The Himalayan Birch (Betula) Jacquemontii has attractive bright white bark and dark green leaves, which turn yellow in autumn, and yellowy brown catkins in spring.

An elegant tree that is perfect for all gardens, large or small. It can be grown as a specimen in the lawn, grown in a group in a woodland or just planted as a feature in the garden border.

If you are looking for maximum impact go for the multi stemmed variety which will show off the white peeling bark magnificently.

The vast majority of deciduous trees require pruning when dormant. This is not the case with Birch as it tends to bleed profusely if pruned at this time. Pruning should be carried out July/August when the fresh growth has matured. Now I say this, but do I always practise what I preach no! For one thing, Birch doesn’t exactly lend itself to hard pruning however the Jacquemontii in our garden had well and truly outgrown its position and I had no choice. Why did I prune in January, well have you ever pruned a large tree in mid Summer with all that leaves to consider.

However pruning at the wrong time, it is a chance we take and lets face it more often than not you will get away with it, mind you, cross a quiet country road with your eyes shut and you will possibly get away with it nine times out of ten. Do a google search on pruning Birch and you will probably get more information that says to prune when dormant, rather than otherwise. Ask a