Sweet Birch, Black Birch, Cherry Birch

Sweet Birch, also called Cherry or Black Birch, grows native in the cool, mature woods, often near Eastern Hemlock, of southeast Pennsylv...Read Moreania and the rest of the Appalachian Region where the soil is acid of about pH 5 to 6.5, in various spots. It tolerates a medium amount of shade. I first saw one on a hike with Dr Mike Dirr next to the grounds of the Univeristy of ILL in Urbana in 1975, planted in a cemetery in full sun, doing well in neutral pH soil, about pH 6.8 to 7. I saw a few in Batavia, IL, west of Chicago, growing alright, planted in a park district in full sun and neutral pH soil, but they did suffer a lot from drought one dry summer. Beautiful tree with the best yellow fall color of any birch and should be used in landscapes. Some native plant nurseries and large, diverse nurseries offer it. Extract is taken from it to make birch beer.

I became facinated with Sweet Birch a couple years ago while hiking in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky. I came across a massive moss...Read More covered boulder (about 20ft high) in a ravine area which had a medium sized tree growing on top of it. Upon further inspection it was a sweet birch which had over time grown roots over the sides of the boulder to reach the earth at the base. I would like to find the tree again someday and take a picture.

A beautiful tree in form, foliage, and tenacity. Unfortunately it doesnt have the white bark demanded of birches used in landscapes.

I have a number of these on my property - most are small (10' or so high and no more than 3 inches in diameter), although one is slightly...Read More larger, and another is about 60' tall with a 14-16" diameter trunk.

The twigs have a very distinctive wintergreen fragrance - these trees supply both wintergreen flavoring extract and the key ingredient in birch beer.

I discovered that I had this on my land by trimming what I thought were suckers on some oaks last spring - the sap was running and the scent filled the air. These trees seem to like to grow right up against other trees. All but a few of the ones on my property are up against an oak, maple, or sassafras - even the largest one has displaced a trunk of what once was a maple that it grew up next to.

The leaves have a beautiful bright green in the spring, and turn brilliant yellow in the fall.

Not a white-barked birch and excellent as a shade tree.