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Paper Birch, Betula papyrifera, has ornamental peeling bark when it is mature. The young bark is a ruddy brown colour. After 5 years or so, it matures, turns pale grey-white and begins to peel, revealing a mild orange-pink tint as it does so.
The autumn leaves are a deep, warm orange that goes well with the pale bark.
Paper Birch is not suitable for a clipped hedge. The habit is quite tidy, narrow and upright, suitable for medium-sized garden. It can be grown as a screening tree up to about 25 metres high.
The plants on this page are young saplings. You can also buy larger Paper Birch trees in standard sizes.
Browse all of our other varieties of Birch trees, or our full range of hedging.
Delivery season: Birches are delivered bareroot during late autumn and winter, approximately November-March inclusive.
Choosing a size: Small plants are cheaper and more forgiving of less than ideal aftercare, so they are best for a big planting project. If instant impact is your priority, or if you are only buying a few plants for ornamental use in a place where it is convenient to water them well in their first year, then you may as well use bigger ones. All our sapling trees are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).
It will grow on most reasonably fertile soils apart from chalk, and it likes damp sites near water. It requires close to full sun.
The oily, waterproof bark was used extensively by the Native Americans for a wide range of products, including paper, canoes, and baskets. The wood is flexible and quite strong, so it was great for spears and sleds. It rots quickly without protection, however.
It is good firewood (the bark is also very handy for lighting fires) and well suited to smoking fish, but it is best to season it for a couple of years to reduce the amount of tar that it produces. It burns hot.
Common Names: Paperbark Birch, Canoe Birch, American White Birch