Older gardeners will remember the days when gardens in colder regions commonly had graceful white birch trees standing on the lawns. Their glowing white bark shone out like no other tree, and their golden yellow fall leaves were a highlight of the garden year. Sadly, they are rarely seen today, victims of the turning away from pesticides. That meant the chemical treatment for the bronze birch borer, a destructive insect pest, was discontinued, and the trees soon died, to be replaced by something else. But really, there is nothing else that has such gorgeous bark, and the paper birch, which can grow up to 6 feet a year, was perfect for a new garden, because you would have a good-sized tree so quickly. All that has changed, because there is a re-birth of this tree, with the Renaissance Reflection® Birch, a beautiful variety of white birch that is highly resistant to birch borer. Now, without any chemicals, you can have this graceful tree standing like a slender sentinel on your lawn and be enjoying its beauty again. As well, this is one of the most winter-hardy of all deciduous trees, surviving even in zone 2, and thriving in all the coldest parts of the country. Welcome back, white birch.

Growing the Renaissance Reflection® Birch

Size and Appearance

The Renaissance Reflection Birch is a slender, upright deciduous tree with a tall, straight trunk, growing rapidly, between 4 and 6 feet a year when young, to be about 35 feet tall in 10 years. Ultimately it will reach around 50 feet, with a spread of about 25 feet. The crown is slender and pyramidal, with a tall section of clear trunk developing quickly. Young twigs are chestnut brown. On young branches and stems less than 2 or 3 inches in diameter the bark is reddish-brown, so if your new tree has a brown trunk, don’t worry, it will soon become white. On the trunk and older branches, the bark is snow white, and remains that way throughout the tree’s life. This variety does not shed its bark very much, but sometimes patches of park peel away, revealing salmon-pink new bark, which soon becomes white.

The leaves are oval, with pronounced serrated edges and a pointed tip. They are 3 to 6 inches long, and 1½ to 3 inches wide, and they hang gracefully from the branches, often in pairs, fluttering and rustling in the slightest breeze. They are dark green on both sides, and they turn a gorgeous, glowing yellow in fall.

Using the Renaissance Reflection® Birch in Your Garden

If you have a new garden, or an open area with no trees, this birch tree is the perfect way to quickly fix that. Planted alone, as two or three, or in a small grove, it will grow so quickly that you will have good-sized trees on that lawn within a few short years. It can be grown in a row as a simple but effective boundary. It can even be grown for some years as a captivating potted tree, planted in a large container, to place on a deck or terrace.

Hardiness

The Renaissance Reflection Birch is very cold resistant. It is totally hardy in zones 3 to 7, and normally survives in zone 2 as well. It is not suitable for warmer zones, but this particular variety does have better heat resistance in zones 6 and 7 that other forms of white birch. If you want a white birch in those zones, this is the one you want.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is best for this tree, with a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun a day from spring to fall. It will grow well in ordinary soils, preferring moist but well-drained slightly acidic soils, but tolerating alkaline soils too, as well as clay soils and wet soils. It is perfect for newly-developed gardens, but it isn’t tolerant of inner-city pollution. It does resist road salt, and salt runoff in the soil, but not long periods of drought.

Maintenance and Pruning

Remove lower side branches while they are still still small to develop a clear trunk with no scarring. This is usually the only pruning needed, although you can also remove crowded branches on young trees to develop a graceful, more open crown. This tree is highly resistant to the birch borer, an insect that burrows beneath the bark, killing the growing parts and soon killing the tree. It can still suffer from birch leaf miner, but that pest is not lethal, and varies from season to season.

History and Origin of the Renaissance Reflection® Birch

The American white birch, Betula papyrifera, is perhaps the most beautiful of all the American species of birch. It is also called paper birch and canoe birch. It grows from sea to sea across Canada, and in all the northern states, as well as in mountainous areas further south. It has always been a popular garden tree in northern gardens, but the bronze birch borer has made it much rarer. In the 1970s the Evergreen Nursery Company, Inc. in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin, began a 40-year breeding program to develop trees that were resistant to the bronze birch borer. They grew many trees from seed and planted them at various locations to observe their growth and resistance. One trial planting was of 240 trees in New Carlisle, Ohio. Among those trees one stood out. Not only was it untouched by the borer, but its straight trunk and excellent white bark really caught the attention of Thomas Pinney, Jr. His family had owned Evergreen Nursery since it was founded in 1893. After further testing and observation of mature trees grown from that original, it was patented in 2002 with the name ‘Renci’. All our trees are grown from stem pieces, to preserve the genetic purity of that original tree. The same year the nursery trademarked the tree as Renaissance Reflection®, to mark the rebirth of white birch in gardens.

Buying the Renaissance Reflection® Birch at The Tree Center

Now that you can grow a beautiful white birch without worrying about it being soon killed by borers, everyone wants to have the Renaissance Reflection Birch in their gardens. We are so pleased we could source some trees, but they certainly won’t last long. Order now, and before you know it you will have a gorgeous white-barked tree standing on your lawn.