The lovely silver birch of the Himalayas are found from
Afghanistan, through Northern Pakistan, Kashmir, Nepal Bhutan and
into Western China.
There
are many selections of Betula utilis in
cultivation, all thoroughly good garden plants with superb bark
colour throughout the year. Of all of them Betula utilis var jacquemontii 'Doorenbos', is one of
the very whitest and has the advantage of turning white as a young
plant and even has white roots if they are slightly exposed!
Plants
may be grown with single trunks, or pruned hard as young plants to
produce a vase-shaped multistemmed effect. Alternatively three Betula jacquemontii are
sometimes planted in the same hole to create a three trunked tree.
For
optimum growth, never remove the side branches above a third of the
height of the tree, i.e., when a tree is 9 feet high, don’t prune
off any branches above three feet.
The
specific name “utilis” refers to the usefulness of this birch,
which in the wild is used as fuel and for the manufacture of everyday
items, such as buttons.
On
an expedition to the Eastern Himalayas in 2007 we noticed white
Betula utilis
stems just stuck into the side of tracks & roads being used as
simple bollards to warn motorists of precipitous falls if they went
off the road!
Betula utilis var jacquemontii 'Doorenbos' will benefit enormously from an annual scrub, or even
better, a gentle pressure wash occasionally to really expose the
beautiful bark.
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