Silver Birch Tree

Betula Pendula

The Common Silver Birch tree, Betula pendula, is a handsome, vigorous, medium sized native plant that will grow in most soils; it requires a sunny site. The pale, near-white bark is a lovely feature throughout the year: is smooth and slightly peeling, which keeps the colour bright. The feathery canopy only casts light shade.
Silver Birch trees can reach a height of about 25 metres.
Standard trees are the largest size that we deliver; you can also buy younger Silver Birch saplings here.

Browse our variety of birch tree or see our full range of ornamental trees.

How Standard Trees are Measured:
All the plants in the ornamental trees section are graded as standards, which means that they are measured by their girth in centimetres 1 metre above ground level (basically, their trunk's waist measurement). They aren't measured by their height, which will vary. So, a 6/8 standard has a trunk with a circumference of 6-8 centimetres and an 8/10 standard has a trunk 8-10 centimetres around. This measurement makes no difference to the tree's final height.
Standard trees are 2 - 3.5 metres tall (on average) when they arrive; they are the most mature trees that you can buy from us. We cannot tell you precisely how tall your trees will be before we deliver them.

General description of Silver Birch trees:
Known as the Lady of the Woods, the Silver Birch is a slender tree with supple, leafy stems hanging from its main branches that flutter and sway in the breeze. The bark of the tree is white when it is young, developing dark ridges as it matures, especially at the base. Silver Birch catkins are yellow-green, appearing in early spring.
Birches are quite short lived as trees go and tend to start falling apart as they reach about 80 years old. Silver birch doesn't respond well to pruning: it will lose its elegant form and grow bristly clumps of twigs where it was cut. For these reasons, it's not really worth investing money on a tree surgeon to tidy up old birches.
It is commonly found growing wild at the edge of a mature wood and in damp places that larger trees dislike.

History & uses of Betula pendula
Silver Birch is one of the most native British trees: it was here before the last Ice Age and was one of the first trees to return from Europe when the ice pulled back from the soggy southern edge of the land that would become England. Its flexible, oily bark was invaluable to our ancestors, who used it for roofs, boats and even clothing. These days it is used for paper pulp and making high grade charcoal for artists. It is good firewood, but it burns up quickly.