Experiences with Heritage River Birch ?

16 years ago

Hi,

New to this forum, but not to garden web. I am hoping some

one can tell me if they have any growing experiences with

Heritage River Birch Betula nigra 'Heritage'. Specifically

in zone 5.

I fell in love with this tree visiting eastern KS, and

would love one for my yard. I have never, ever seen

one in this area ....ever.

According to the specs I can find on the internet, it is

suppose to do alright in zones 4 & 5. I do not want to

spend the money on one, only to have it die. Any info

on this tree would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mary

z 5b KS

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Comments (9)

gandle
16 years ago
We can't grow them in NE, western, that is because of high pH they do fine in the eastern part.
Embothrium
16 years ago
A common item - apparently many like it and plant it, hopefully you will be able to also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Birch tree - Patent # PP4409 - PatentGenius
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Give it another few weeks. Try a scratch test on several twigs/small branches of the questionable ones. If the cambium is still green, then it's more hopeful. Make sure they have water, but don't drown them - and don't feed them either. If the cambium is brown, go further down the trunks/branches until you hit green. You can trim off the truly dead stuff, but be careful not to damage any possibly live stuff - it may be better to wait and be sure it's dead before you cut anything. Cut off the dead trunks at or just below ground level. The tree/clump should have a good root system by now, so if the trunks all are alive, they should go well, once they get going. If the two are dead, and you really want a multiple-trunked specimen, then you can select 2 or more strong suckers from very low on the base of the live one, and let them grow over the summer. Next year, you can select the strongest one(s), and go from there. It will take longer, but you will have a multi-trunked tree.
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Molie Since noone had given any repies, I'll offer a bit of info. First, you can prune off dead branches anytime. The reason you state is valid, though a bit confused. You either meant bronze birch borer, or birchleaf miner. But river birch, at least where I live, is less affected by these insects than some other birch species. There is no magic formula as to how much pruning can be done to a tree in a given season. But, there is a general guideline stating that no more than a third of the crown, meaning live branches, should be removed in any one pruning event. Your tree is newish though, and I'd let it have as much live foliage as possible for a few years to help it get going. Also, birch trees really dont typically need any work done to the interior of the crown. You can pretty much just leave them be. If you want to see more of the attractive trunk, you can gradually "raise them up" by removing a few lower branches. Just take your time. It doesn't have to happen all at once. and again, I'd not initiate this practice until the tree has established itself well. Perhaps three or so years down the road, you could begin this raising up process. Hope this helps.........+oM
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I simply love the overall look of 'Heritage' River Birch trees. The 'Dura Heats' are reported to withstand planting areas that drain better and that may encounter more drying out in the hottest parts of summer, when rains are less apt to occur. Personally though, the 'Dura Heat' birches seem to display a little more yellow than I would prefer to see in a birch tree's bark. The leaves also do not seem to be as nicely shaped or colored as the Heritage Birch tree's leaves. Bottom line; I guess whichever birch cultivar you plant needs to the cultivar that is more compatable with the soil conditons and climate that the tree will encounter in its intended planting site. Still personally I prefer the Heritage Birch tree cultivar over most others. There are even prettier cultivars than Heritage Birch, but any those others that happen to tolerate my USDA zone area seem to be more prone to Birch borers or even other pests, which feed off the leaves of such birch trees.
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Yes, I have seen the three tree method that some growers use to produce multi trunk ornamental trees. I even planted a paperbark maple tree that had been handled like that. One of the paperbark trunks dominated and the other two died off each at different times. It did not seem to matter what I did to try and save those, they still died while the dominant one thrived as if no stressors of any kind existed for it. Also planting three young trees together is the technique I myself had tried to get a multi trunked River Birch tree. Five years later, one of those trunks thrived and now has a 3 inch wide trunk with beautifull pealing bark, and which has grown to about 10 feet tall. The other two trunks are currently about 4 feet shorter, also with some bark pealing and with only about 1 inch in trunk diameter. This drastic imbalanced look is why I dug the two shorter trunks, and now have them in bare root form. I have seen other reports of people having success at growing a new single main leader by the cutting back nearly to the ground of the damaged main leader. Of course those damaged trees are usually fairly well established. So I do not know why I could not do the same thing with my single trunked birch trees. That is, as long as I do it at the right re-established root development point. Is this truely a bad idea? I do think that my trees are nearly twice as mature than what past growers generally used for clumping out multi trunk birches, but if I do not begin the process to eventually prune out the current one inch wide trunks for these two trees; they too will likely dominate too much over any new sprouts which I might get to pop up out of each of their own root balls. I have also seen what you suggested concerning the trunks of clumps spreading to far; that is on a neighbor's birch that has only two leader trunks, and which is almost 30 years old. Is my only other option to keep them as single trunked trees. Is this delima, also why I have had such a difficult time finding young multi-trunked Heritage birch trees at my local nurseries. Also am I wrong in thinking a three trunked rootball would tend to grow more slowly and end up with less height potential if all three trunks emerging from one rootball grew at a relatively well balanced rate, and no trunk is allowed to remain, which seemes to so drastically dominate over the other two.
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Pamchesbay
16 years ago
According to several sources, Heritage River Birch is hardy to zone 4 so you should be fine.

Last spring, I planted 3 Heritage river birch trees next to a salt water cove. A few months later, they went through two tropical storms with high winds and waves of 3+ feet for several hours. They survived and are growing much faster than expected.

The tree is highly recommended by plantsman Michael Dirr who wrote: "This cultivar has earned a place in the birch hall of fame."

Good choice!
friesfan1
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi Everyone,

I would dearly LOVE this tree in my yard.

Gandle,
I think I read that this tree liked high PH? Don't remember
where exactly I read this. I also read that watering them
in the first couple of years would help it succeed in areas
of lesser rainfall, like mine in NW KS. I was wondering if
I needed to amend the soil where I put the tree. I have
never even tested my soil for PH.

I am planning on moving a Bradford Pear tree I planted two
years ago, so I can have this tree!

I am totally smitten with its peeling bark and multi trunk
appearance. Pam Chesbay isn't VA a zone 6-7? I wish we
had more temperate weather here. But, it is either extremely
hot & windy or cold and windy, and nearly no "in betweens".
If the wind would ever stop blowing, we would all just fall
over.

Eastern KS, where my daughter lives, these trees were
all over the place. Funny I never noticed them until
this year.

I think I will order 2 next spring...just in case :-)

Thank you everyone for your responses.
Mary
z 5b KS
Saypoint zone 6 CT
16 years ago
Amending the soil when planting trees or shrubs is not recommended.

I have Heritage, and it has grown faster than I expected. The bark on the lower trunks will turn darker and in time will lose some of the appeal that younger trunks have, but it is still a lovely tree with few of the problems of the white barked birches.
Dibbit
16 years ago
Saypoint, I am a little surprised at your comment that the lower trunks get darker with time. One of the plusses of 'Heritage' over the species is that the trunks are whiter - at least in my experience. Are you sure you have the cultivar and not the species?

They do grow fast, in my experience, with good watering. They are a bit of a water-hog, if they can be, but are growing well in my native red clay, albeit extensively mulched. If you want to grow perennials under them, you WILL have to water them frequently! The heat and drought of this summer didn't slow them down much, nor cause as much leaf-drop as in past years, despite my not watering a whole lot (I thought my well was running out, but my pump was slowly dieing instead - a new pump today has fixed things nicely!) - I made the mulched "bed" they were in much larger when I planted a number of shrubs in it last year.
Saypoint zone 6 CT
16 years ago
I hope I'm wrong about the bark. Yes, I'm sure I have Heritage, I bought a fairly large specimen four years ago and had it planted. I have read (forget where) and was told that the color of the young exfoliating trunks would eventually darken and become less interesting. Mine is still young, but I see evidence near the bottom of the trunk of some darkening of the bark already. Maybe this bark will still exfoliate and regain some of the light coloring, I don't know.

Like I said, I hope I'm wrong, as the bark is one of several attractive features of this tree. Even so, it's a worthwhile addition, IMO.
Fledgeling_
16 years ago
Grows up here in SD with no dieback.
friesfan1
Original Author
16 years ago
Fledgeling,
If it is growing in SD, that sounds like a good indication
to me that I can grow this tree in my area.

Thanks,
Mary
z 5b KS

Experiences with Heritage River Birch ?

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gandle

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