Betula nigra ‘Cully’, Betula nigra ‘Heritage’ – Heritage® River Birch

Botanical Name: Betula nigra ‘Cully’, Betula nigra ‘Heritage’

Alternate Name: Heritage® Birch

The Heritage® River Birch (Betula nigra ‘Cully’ or Betula nigra ‘Heritage’) is a fast growing, graceful, medium-sized deciduous tree. It is prized for its eye-catching reddish brown, exfoliating bark, which reveals lighter silver-tan bark underneath. This tree can be grown as either a multi-trunked or standard tree. The Heritage® River Birch tree is the most adaptable birch tree to different environmental conditions and grows easily in moist to wet conditions.

It can tolerate some standing water, making it suitable for growing in rain gardens or next to streams or ponds. It can also be planted in lower parts of the landscape where there is seasonal flooding and bad drainage.

The leaves are handsome and dark green. They grow in a diamond-shape with serrated edges and are leathery in texture, ranging from 1.5-3.5 inches in length. Their fall color is a reliable bright yellow. The male flowers are brown catkins, and the female flowers are smaller and green.

Heritage® River Birch is resistant to leaf spot disease that can afflict birch trees. It is also extremely resistant to the bronze birch borer which has been responsible for killing many silver birch trees in the Pacific Northwest. This birch cultivar is also very heat tolerant and somewhat drought and pollution tolerant.