River Birch
Betula nigra
Grown for peeling, cinnamon to salmon-pink bark that shows off all winter, on a fast-growing native tree that thrives in wet ground and summer heat. It's the birch for warm climates, highly resistant to the borer that kills other birches. Keep its roots moist and mulched, since drought makes it drop leaves.
- Mature size
- 55 × 50 ft
- 17 × 15 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–9a
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Medium to wet
River Birch at its mature size
A mature River Birch grows 40 to 70 feet tall and 40 to 60 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Missouri Botanical Garden.
Through the year
What River Birch looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Mar
Bare: fine drooping twigs, multiple trunks with conspicuous peeling salmon, cream and cinnamon bark.
In leaf · Apr–Sep
Light green small diamond-shaped leaves, airy crown.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Modest yellow, fairly muted and patchy, some leaves already dropped.
Photos
Growing River Birch
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Specimen, rain garden, deer resistant, winter interest, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Eastern North America
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For River Birch, that’s about 50 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See River Birch in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other birches
River Birch
Paper BirchAll drawn to the same scale.