They grow well on acidic soil and

are terrific at colonising areas of open

ground, especially after say a fire.

However, if left to their own devices

they can soon take over.

Butterflies and moths are particularly

attracted to the foliage

of this tree

The bark comes in shades of white, silver, pink and brown and is one of the most attractive logs we sell

The wood is fairly straight-grained and reasonable to split

Birch wood is white to pale fawn in colour

sometimes with a satin sheen to it.

Bark from the Birch has been used

as writing paper as long ago as

the twelfth century.

It makes a fabulous kindler for fires

as the bark will burn even when

wet due to the oil contained in the bark.

One of its' little know uses is if you

soak the bark it can be used as

a cast for a broken arm!

The bark will ease muscle pain

if applied externally

Silver Birch was the favourite

firewood of Queen Victoria

It is certainly mine!

The sap can be tapped as it rises in

Spring and fermented to make

Birch Wine

(maximum one gallon per tree).

Apparently huge tracts of

Silver Birch forests in the Baltic’s

have been decimated through

over-tapping!!

Umea which is a city in Sweden has a

very special relationship with the Birch

tree. Apparently in 1888 fires raged

through the city and almost wiped it out

but the Birch trees saved the day and supposedly kept the fire back.

To make sure this did not happen again

Silver Birch trees were planted all over

and the city of Umea now has the unofficial title of "City of the Birches".

It must be some sight to see

all these trees!

Birch makes excellent plywood and

the ply has many uses from aeroplanes

(Howard Hughes' "The Spruce Goose"

was manufactured using birch ply),

to skateboards.

Birch brushes or besoms as they are

traditionally known are made from

Birch twigs with an ash or oak handle.

Folk lore tell us that these besoms were

placed as shown in the photograph and

with witnesses present a newly married

couple - groom first would then jump

over the besom followed by his bride,

should either of them knock or touch it then the marriage was no longer recognised.

This is the best bit - if you wanted a divorce within the first year of marriage all you

had to do was jump back over the besom - and that was that!