I live in Illinois just below the Wisc. border. I planted 3 White birch
trees back in 1984 in my front yard...full sun. Turns out, after a few
years of growing, that all three were of a different variety of white
birch. They all had different sizes and shapes of leaves.
2 of the trees grew faster than the third. After 15 years the slowest
growing tree was 3" smaller in it's trunk diameter than the other 2.
That one was lost to a fungus problem causing die back from the top.
Had to remove it. The other two are now 10"+ in trunk diameter. They
are towering over my 2 story house. I had to move my sattelite dish
because they were so tall. I did have leaf miner problems when they
were younger but lately the leaf miner problem has gone away? These
trees do need special treatment. Watering during drought or even just
dry conditions. I also fertilize them
in the spring. Is weird, these last 2 trees are a different variety,
one has very white bark and the other is darker. If you keep these
trees watered the bronze birch beetle can't hurt them. The beetle bores
into the tree and if it is healthy the borer just drowns in the sap of
the tree. Any way that is the way I have been doing it and the trees
are doing great.
The neighbors just love them also. They are so nice to look at. Plus
they block the sunlight to my house in the afternoon. Wish I could post
some pics of them. They take some extra work but are well worth it.
Dan.