Birch - Downy (Betula pubescens) bare root tree saplings

Autumn golden foliage and white bark on Betula pubescens trees

Birch - Downy (Betula pubescens)

£0.99

10% off Orders over £1000+VAT

15% off Orders over £2000+VAT

Minimum order value (all plants) is £300+VAT

Free Delivery over £300+VAT excl Highlands and Islands

Please order plants in multiples of 25

Downy birch trees (Betula pubescens) are

- Suitable as a woodland tree or urban tree

- Native

- Deciduous

- Particularly suited to growing in wetter soils

- Common in Scotland where it is grown for timber

- Safe to plant near livestock (non-toxic)

Grown on our farm in Herefordshire. Buy with confidence - read our customer reviews.

The specifications shown below are our normal range but we often have additional options. If there is something that you are looking for, it's often worth contacting us.

Please contact us if you would prefer to order on the phone or have any questions or to discuss a discount for larger quantities.

Our range of bare root Downy birch trees (Betula pubescens)

We have bare root downy birch trees in several sizes. The 1+0 specification plants are seedlings (often called whips) which were sown from seed in the spring and are sold during the following November to April months ie they are one year old. We have downy birch bare root whips in several heights.

We always have several batches of seed for Downy birch including UK provenance seed, but sometimes also the highest quality imported seed so if it is particularly important to you to have UK provenance seed, please give us a call. See our blog on seed provenance.

Downy Birch (Betula pubescens) Summary

Native to all of Northern Europe, downy birch grows further north than any other broadleaf tree. It is closely related to Silver birch but grows in wetter soil and is well suited to the west of Scotland where it is grown for timber. This blog explains the main differences between Silver birch and Downy birch.

As its common name implies, Downy birch is covered in downy hairs. It has an elegant, light canopy with slightly drooping branches (but is more upright than Betula pendula). The bark of downy birch isn’t as white and papery as silver birch and has less fissures.

Soil and situation

Found throughout the UK but particularly in the north and west, downy birch prefers damper soils than silver birch, even heavy clay soils and boggy areas (but not fully waterlogged). It grows well on elevation sites in full or partial sun.

Leaves, flowers and fruit

Downy birch has small green, triangular leaves rounded at the base with velvety leaf stalks. The yellow/brown “lambs’ tails” male catkins and are long and dangling, female catkins are short and upright and bright green and are wind pollinated after which they turn red and disperse tiny seed in autumn. It supports 300+ insect species and several bird species, particularly siskins.

Eventual height and growth rate

Downy birch is a pioneer species (see blog on this topic) and are fast growing, seed readily, are undemanding and easy to establish. Their eventual height is about 20m.

Also known as Betula alba, moor birch, white birch, European white birch, hairy birch. Betulaceae family.

Free Delivery

For deliveries of orders over £300 + VAT, (which is our minimum order value) we have free delivery to all mainland areas nationwide. If you are in the Scottish Highlands or any of the Islands, please email us or call us and we will quote you a delivery charge which we will subsidise.

All orders are despatched on pallets and will be delivered to the kerbside. We will email you to tell you when your order has been despatched and that email will contain a link so that you can track your delivery.

You can request a specific delivery date when you place your order and we will do our very best to accommodate that date but cannot be held responsible if we do not meet it.

Collections from Ross-on-Wye

You can collect your plants by arrangement with our office team. Please ring us on 01989 552028 to agree a collection date. The postcode for collections is HR9 7TF.

As a trade nursery, we normally despatch stock unbagged (packed horizontally on pallets) but we can offer two bagging options.

Bagging Options

We have two options for despatching plants in bags (you do not need to have them bagged but it is advisable if there is any delay in planting and where you have large quantities, delay in planting some is inevitable).

- Very heavy duty black bags - normally used by farmers, landowners, landscapers etc

- Co-extruded bags which are white on the outside, to reflect sunlight, and black inside, to retain moisture on the roots - normally used by foresters.

In both cases, there is a considerable labour cost to us in putting stock into bags, and then the air in the bags takes up a considerable amount of space on the pallet which means that we get many fewer plants onto a pallet compared with unbagged stock eg for 1+0 seedlings instead of approx. 10,000 plants per pallet of unbagged stock, we'd only get approx. 5,000 plants per pallet if they are bagged. There's also a significant labour cost in putting plants into bags compared with loose packing on a pallet (which is the normal method for nursery to nursery sales). Given that we pay the delivery cost on most orders, supplying stock in bags is a significant extra cost for us for some customers and hence we make a modest charge.

You can specifically request black or white bags on the website after you add plants to your shopping basket. Here is a link to the page Bagging Service for bare root plants for farms and forestry – rjtreesandhedging. Please order the same quantity as the number of plants you are buying - the pricing for bagging is per plant rather than per bag.