Talk of The Villages Florida - View Single Post - River Birch Tree
View Single Post
 
Old 08-23-2021, 08:17 AM
kendi kendi is offline
Gold member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 1,007
Thanks: 392
Thanked 716 Times in 417 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Soon2B-Villager View Post
We want to tree with a little character. We are looking at planting a river birch tree behind the birdcage of our home. I have been reading that birch trees can get extremely big and messy, but all the birch trees I have seen around TV seem more manageable size-wise. Anyone with any experience with this type of tree in their yard?
Yes, we had 6 in our yard up North. They are self pruning trees meaning they regularly drop branches. We sure got the exercise keeping those picked up and luckily we had a wooded area in the back to dump them. The leaves drop earlier in the fall than most and they are small which makes them tougher to rake up. We usually mowed them into the lawn rather than pick them up. Not sure if that can be done with Florida grasses if you have any. The little wormy seeds that drop in the spring didn’t bother us but could be quite a nuisance in some locations. They are attractive in the summer and show off their pretty bark in winter but in my opinion a bit of an eyesore in the fall. Ours were 30-40 years old so quite large and a nice distance from the house. I would not put them anywhere near the home. When mature these trees can put you 6 feet under with the large branches they drop.