Betula pendula Youngii - Birch

Betula pendula 'Youngii', a weeping birch with moderate growth, will become the centrepiece of the garden, even in limited space. With a wide, compact, and graceful habit, it captivates with its slender, unbowed branches, giving it an umbrella-like appearance, even in winter when it is leafless. Its bright green cascading foliage turns yellow in autumn, transforming it into a fountain of gold against its beautiful white-silver bark. This unusual small tree, a true vegetal sculpture, deserves a prominent place in a romantic, or even Japanese-inspired setting. Fully hardy and disease-resistant, it adapts to both wet and dry, poor soils but dislikes excessive limestone presence in the soil.

Native to mainly central Europe and temperate Asia, Betula pendula (synonym B. verrucosa), commonly known as the Silver Birch, is a large-growing tree of the Betulaceae family. This light-loving species naturally has a pyramidal habit, a more or less straight trunk, and a generally oval crown carried by long, almost upright branches with pendulous twigs at an acute angle. Its growth rate is quite fast. It is extremely cold-resistant.

The cultivar 'Youngii', born in England around 1870, is mainly distinguished by its smaller size, and its wide and particularly weeping habit. It will reach an average of 5 m (16.4 ft) in all directions. The silhouette is generally rounded, irregular, and dense. The white bark exfoliates and, over time, becomes darker and more channelled at the base of the trunk, with deep crevices. The pendulous twigs are reddish-brown and speckled with verrucate lenticels. The deciduous foliage appears early in spring and tends to completely conceal the trunk. It consists of triangular leaves, 3 cm to 6 cm (1.2 in to 2.4 in) long, with toothed edges, and a tender green colour. They turn a vibrant yellow before falling. The flowering, in the form of catkins, is discreet. This birch produces radiating lateral tap roots with a very dense network of small surface feeder roots.

'Youngii' is a sculptural tree with a modest stature for a birch, perfect for small gardens. Superbly structured, its white and somewhat mysterious silhouette stands out beautifully against a winter sky or at the corner of a terrace. In the garden, it requires no maintenance. It deserves a prominent place, visible from the house. To cover the base of this tree, which dries out the soil during the growing season, it is advisable to choose plants adapted to these conditions: heathers, small grasses like Stipa pennata or tenuifolia, Carex, Ophiopogon. It can also be planted in front of a grove of trees chosen for their foliage or decorative bark, such as Acer griseum or Betula albosinensis. Maples, Nysa sylvatica, Caramel tree, Chinese Mahogany, or even a white willow will create a beautiful backdrop for this superb plant specimen.