Allotments 4 All

one of all-time favourites, and am keen to buy my first one. can someone help. they're all lovely, but the following ones i'm finding really difficult to choose:-

betula papyrifera, betula ermanii, betula serrula, betula albosensis 'fascination' (really loving this one), betula jacquemontii

if anyone can recommend a decent nursery, then that'll be great.

thanks

We went to this place today; they do mail order...

And I'd suggest this tree as well, gorgeous. That and the Weeping White Mulberry was what we went to look at in their arboretum.

http://www.bluebellnursery.com/catalogue/trees/Betula/B/3011

thanks for that aj. i have been to Bluebell once yrs ago (the arboretum was fairly young then) when i had a lift with someone. it's a great place. altho' a tad pricey, i might just buy one as a xmas pressie to myself. has anyone taken softwood cuttings before (in Spring) of betula, if so, how easy is it to root?

I bought a Betula utilis 'Jermyns' as it has a nice goblet shape and fantastic bark, but it failed to establish.  Most expensive tree I'd ever bought actually, total failure.

I also bought five betula pendula but they were quite big - like 10' tall, and they took a while to establish and in truth they're still not exactly thriving.

I also planted out like a dozen self-seeded whips on the allotment and they established right away and did very well.

Personally I think you have to go a long way to do better than a betula pendula for winter shape, and it may not be the most silver barked, it still produces a good display, especially if you give the trunk a bit of a scrub now and then.  And they're so fast growing I'd grow from seed and plant out at a year old - it'll be 20' tall before you know it.

Well arn't you the lucky one, just up the road from you at Babworth is Green Mile trees, I reckon he is the best in the country, we always use his trees on our show gardens because they are really the finest quality.
http://www.greenmiletrees.co.uk/index.shtml

Make sure you have a few bob in your pocket though, but you will be garanteed the tree of your dreams. A very nice bloke to deal with who knows his stuff and I bet he will point you in the right direction. Just tell him the aspect and conditions where you want the tree to go.

I would go for something multi stemmed as they look a better as a small clump.

thanks for both your replies. i'm really uncertain now about buying an established tree. :-\ i don't think these variety trees come that small, do they? I might just settle for some b.pendula whips so then it'll be guaranteed that they'll  be happy.

do any of you guys know of a fruit nursery, i want to buy an asian pear tree too? (if no-one knows, then i'll repost this as a new thread).

thanks

While we're on the subject ....will Betula come true from seed ?   :)

Quote from: woodypecks on November 30, 2011, 15:16:44
While we're on the subject ....will Betula come true from seed ?   :)

Depends. Species come true, so seed from a native stand of betula pendula or pubescens will come true as they're likely fertilised by the same species, but the genera do cross fertilise very readily and it's not uncommon to find wild specimens with features intermediate between pendula or pubescens where their ranges overlap.  However named varieties have little chance of coming true because varieties aren't genetically stable, and as it's probably a variety of one of the asian species like utilis or ermanii it's got a pretty good chance of being cross-polinated with a native.

Thankyou Unwashed ! Maybe I,d get a whole new and wonderful  variety and name it after me...no ?   :D

I've grown most of these in our arboretum - here's my thoughts for what it's worth:

betula papyrifera - it's fine but there are nicer plants on the list below.....
betula ermanii - very nice tree.
betula serrula - not sure what you mean here, at risk of sounding stupid do you mean prunus serrula (the copper-barked cherry)? If so it's spectacular but slow compared to the birches and if you don't grow it as a multistem you end up losing the bark patterning below head height)
betula albosinensis 'fascination' - haven't grown this one but do have Betula albo-sinensis - 'Septentrionalis' which is my favourite; if fascination is better as has been suggested it will be awesome.
betula jacquemontii - this (together with the related utilis and jermyns) is the whitest of the whites - if you want pure white jacquemontii won't let you down.

Also worth considering are Betula nigra heritage (which is something completely different).

I really recommend Bluebell, Robert and Jason have always provided us with excellent advice and help. Their trees (and indeed other nurseries' trees of these varieties) can be more expensive than bog-standard garden centre trees but the attitude I've taken is that I'm willing to sacrifice on shortlived garden things to save than I am for something I'm going to see everyday for perhaps 30 years (if that makes sense)