There are several types of birches, but not all of them are suitable for use in landscaping. Recently, more often dwarf birch is used in landscaping home gardens and summer cottages. In the wild, this plant is found in Yakutia, Western Siberia, northern Russia and Kamchatka. Abroad, dwarf birch grows in North America and northern Europe. Sometimes this shrub can be found in the mountains, more than 300 m above sea level, and in the Alps it grows at an altitude of more than 2000 m. In the tundra, in moss swamps, in the forest, alpine zone and tundra, this type of birch forms continuous thickets, called people "yerniki". In the north, this plant is used as fuel and feed for reindeer. In reserves it is protected by the state.
This deciduous plant is a highly branched, low shrub up to 1.2 m in height, with reclining and ascending almost bare shoots with brown bark. Its leaves are rounded, located next. They are two and a half centimeters long, and one centimeter wide. Leaflets have a rounded apex and wide-wedge-shaped base. The edges of the leaf plate are blunt-jagged. The color of the leaves is dark green, on the top they are glossy, and on the bottom a little sticky and lighter. Petioles are small - up to 6 mm in length.
Since it grows on rocky, swamp and tundra soils, it differs in a superficial root system. Dwarf birch has small, inconspicuous, same-sex flowers, which are collected in inflorescences-earrings up to 1.5 cm in length and about 0.5 cm in width. These light brown inflorescences are located at the ends of the lateral branches. Dwarf birch blooms even before the leaves. The fruits of this plant are very small, they are an elliptical nut covered with narrow membranous wings on the sides. They ripen in June.
This type of birch is divided into two subspecies:
- exilis (has unrefined, sticky young shoots and roundish leaves up to 1.5 cm long), grows in northeast Asia and northern Canada and Alaska;
- nana (has slightly pubescent, non-sticky young shoots, leaflets exceeding 2.5 cm in length), is distributed in northwest Asia, and in the Alps, Greenland, and in Canada (about Baffan Island).
The birch, the description of which is described above, has long been used in landscape design. Cultural specimens purchased in specialized stores, unlike those growing in nature, feel good in almost all climatic zones of Russia and are successfully propagated by cuttings. This graceful birch has a special charm. Most often, it forms rounded bushes up to 1 m in height, which practically do not require regular pruning. It looks beautiful in group plantings, on alpine slides and in rockeries. Dwarf birch is especially effective in the fall, when its leaves are painted in bright yellow or crimson. The tree tolerates the most severe frosts. This plant looks very good with groups of evergreen undersized conifers.
It is better to grow dwarf birch on acidic and slightly acidic garden soils and peat bogs. This plant is not very demanding, but it is better to grow it in well-lit places. In older specimens, the bark acquires a gray-black color. It is very easy to remove, so prune this shrub (if necessary) only with a sharp secateurs.
This plant can be planted with closely related species of birch:
- glandular (American appearance, similar to dwarf, but with larger leaves and higher);
- Finnish (a hybrid of warty and dwarf birch with small leaves);
- Middendordfa (has large rounded leaves).