Wet areas in a landscape can present some real challenges for getting trees to grow well. Fox Valley Dwarf River Birch can be an excellent solution, especially if you would like a tree of modest size, rather than the 40-50 foot height of a standard River Birch, or Niobe Weeping Willow.
Fox Valley Dwarf River Birch displays the same showy cinnamon/copper peeling bark as a full size River Birch, but matures to a very dense round form of 10-12 feet high and wide. Fox Valley is most often allowed to take it’s natural form as a low branched multi-stemmed clump type of ornamental tree, but does lend itself to artful pruning to allow for understory plantings of perennials and shrubs, or creation of a single stem form.
When allowed to grow into its’ natural form, Fox Valley Dwarf River Birch becomes a chubby “butter ball” with some amazing twig density that makes for good low level visual screening even in winter. The opportunity to use Fox Valley as both a focal point in the landscape and a screening tree adds an extra dimension of usefulness for this nice variety that can prosper in damp areas where other trees drown out.