Betula pendula - Silver Birch Tree - Mix and Match Reviews

Betula pendula is a graceful native tree, upright growing, the smaller branches becoming pendulous with age. The deciduous leaves are a diamond shape and hold a mid-green colour before turning yellow in autumn. Yellowy brown male catkins in appear in spring. White peeling bark which with age becomes ruggedly fissured and dark-grey, almost black, at the base. These trees are most effective when planted as a close group of 3 and they also make a good windbreak. The silver birch is an extremely popular tree which is widely planted for its highly ornamental white peeling bark. The ornamental bark gives this tree interest all year round, and it looks particularly effective in winter when the rest of the garden is dormant. In spring, diamond-shaped mid-green leaves appear on the upright branches, and at the same time yellow-brown male catkins hang from the tree. Autumn sees the leaves fade to yellow before falling, when they again reveal the beautiful bark. As this tree matures, the branches become more pendulous and the bark develops a real character and becomes deeply fissured and dark grey in colour. Common Name: Silver Birch Tree Latin Name: Betula pendula