Hey there, Have an established birch on one side of my front yard and I would like to plant a matching one on the other side. However I'm having problems figuring out exactly which cultivar the existing one is. From my research online I've narrowed it down to either BETULA pendula 'Gracilis' or BETULA pendula 'Laciniata' but can't figure out how to differentiate between them. (There is a lot of discussion online about confusion with BETULA pendula 'Dalecarlica' but I'm pretty sure it isn't that one). Photos can be found here: http://aranje.ca/Birch (Yes, I know - it had Birch Leaf Minor last year - that is now being managed) Thanks, \|/ Jeff \|/ Calgary, AB, Canada
If those are different, they would both be part of what the now-released-for-iPhone/iPad Vancouver Trees app (available on iTunes) calls the Darlecarlica Group. Here is some text from a Stone Lane Gardens page I know nothing about: http://stonelanegardens.com/wp-content/static/2011/09/Research-of-Birch-cultivars.pdf I'm assuming from their having been grouped that there is a lot of confusion in the naming of available material, and that even if you did figure out which is the one you have, there is no guarantee that if you were to purchase a tree with that name that you would actually get the right tree. It looks like you would want a cut-leafed birch tree with a main trunk that has winter buds that match those on your tree, never mind what the nursery tag says.
A convention is that the tall dramatic variety in general commerce - often as 'Dalecarlica' - is correctly 'Laciniata'. It makes a much better specimen on watered lawns in the interior than it does over here.
