Personally I prefer the look of single stemmed birches. There is a natural stand of river birches nearby. Most of them grow with a single stem with drooping lateral branches that has almost a weeping effect.

I have a couple of them pop up behind my house. Single stemmers. I think this multi-stemmed phenomena is man made to take advantage of the ornamental bark but single stemmed trees are very beautiful IMO.

That said however, if you are z8 on the east coast, I think you should go with dura heat.

I like the multi-trunk look, but it can potentially come back to bite you. Here's a recent link to a thread I started when only 2 trunks on the roughly 15' Dura-Heat River Birch I planted last year made it through the winter (although at the base of the 3'rd there's a roughly 8" branch coming off, that might someday make a new trunk I'm hoping).

Note the comments about 3 trees planted together to simulate a 3-trunked tree, and about the included bark & crotch angles.

Once I buy & plant a tree, I tend to get attached. At this point I've cut most of the dead trunk off; looks a bit awkward with the other 2 left & close together.

Richard.

Here is a link that might be useful: 2 Out of 3 On River Birch Trunks

I can post a pic of my single stem 'Heritage'...you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for your input. I'm in Southern Lousiana, almost zone 9, so maybe Dura Heat makes more sense.

I want the tree in our front yard as a stand-alone. I'm worried that a single trunk birch might not have enough of a "full" effect. Maybe I should consider planting 2-3 separate trees, or look at a different species altogether (maybe an oak or green ash).

With the concern about emerald ash borer I wouldn't plant an ash, period. Don't know whether they're an issue yet where you are; do you want to take a chance they will be some years down the line?

Oaks are very popular.

Can you describe the size of your yard and about how far the tree would be from the house, side-walks, roads, etc...? Do you have a septic tank system with a leach field anywhere near where the tree will be?

About how tall would you like this tree to be? Do you want dense shade under the tree, dappled shade, etc...? Is Fall color a big deal for you?

Large maple trees often have dense, shallow fibrous root systems, so if you're bent on flower gardening under the thing, they could be a problem.

Can you describe your soil (e.g.: sandy, clay, etc...)? Does it tend to stay moist, wet, very dry?

Richard.

I have 2 Dura-Heat birches in my front yard, planted approx 5 yrs ago. I don't recommend them.

Both had 4 trunks each when planted, and now we're down to 2 trunks each. The remaining trunks aren't leaning in an ideal direction so they look unbalanced. Too bad I couldn't choose which trunks should die...

Also, the leaders & branches are very prone to winter die-back, esp when younger, so the remaining trunks aren't straight - they're kinked where the new leaders grew & I know they will never straighten. The entire top 1/2 of the healthiest trunk would just die over the winter. And the bottom 1/2 would continue growing better than in the prev year.

I should have written that we had 8 Dura Heats originally, because they were container grown w/ 4 trees per pot. I'm sure this caused alot of their early issues.

It is true they are very drought tolerant, but mine aren't rain tolerant, especially after a dry spell. Anytime after July 4th, watering or heavy rain causes many, many leaves to yellow & drop w/in a couple days. In prev years I actually covered the ground under the trees w/ plastic b4 watering the lawn or if heavy rain was expected - and this helped alot - but now I just don't care. I've been told this problem is due to clay, or how they were planted, but these were supposed to be clay tolerant, & the clay isn't that heavy or deep.

The company that sold & planted them were unresponsive to our complaints during the 1st yr after planting, then they just disappeared. I planned to replaced them w/ something else, but life & other expenses happened, and now they're so big...

I've had Birches before, and they shouldn't be this delicate.

In a hurricane prone area I don't think I'd plant a multi-stem birch. The man made ones tend to lean. Is it possible to prune out the second stem now or are they already leaning?