Skip to product information
1 of 1

Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

White Birch Seedling

White Birch Seedling

Species: Betula papyrifera

History: White birch (aka paper birch) is native to most of Canada and parts of the northern US. Its unique bark has long been used by indigenous peoples for a variety of purposes including making canoes, structures, containers, producing intricate art through birch bark biting, and as a backing in embroidery and quillwork. The wood has some commercial use, the sap can be made into birch syrup, and the trees are planted when reclaiming disturbed sites due to their adaptability. They are also important wildlife trees, providing food for animals including moose, deer, beaver, porcupines, and ruffed grouse. It is the provincial tree of Saskatchewan and state tree of New Hampshire. 

Why We Grow It: White birch is an incredibly distinct tree with its white, peeling bark and it produces stunning yellow leaves in the fall. So long as the tree receives full sun, this incredibly adaptable plant can be grown just about anywhere. The wood makes good firewood and the bark is excellent fire starter. For the creative type, the bark has a multitude of uses in various crafts and art projects!

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Ornamental, firewood, sap, creative uses with its bark

Fruit Size:

Storage:

Harvest:

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 2

Soil Preference: Highly adaptable to different soils but does best in deeper soils that are well drained to dry

Flowering Time:

Bloom Colour:

Pollination Requirements:

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

General Growth Habits:

Tree typically reaches up to 20m tall but can grow up to 40m tall. Susceptible to some insect pests and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Our ungrafted fruit tree seedlings, nut tree seedlings, berries, and other miscellaneous plants are categorized into the following sizes excluding the roots:

  • 5-15cm
  • 15cm+
  • 30cm+
  • 60cm+
  • 90cm+

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

Size
Regular price $8.00 CAD
Regular price Sale price $8.00 CAD
Sale Sold out
Shipping calculated at checkout.
View full details