The birch borer is a small, bronze-colored beetle that attacks weakened or stressed birches from May to August. The insects are drawn to stressed trees by the release of a physiological signal.

A number of conifers are candidates for the Official Evergreen of Winter, but among the leaf-shedding shade trees there is just one superstar, the birch tree with its peeling snow-white bark.

Using traditional photography, which needs lots of light to produce an image, would have interfered with the trees’ nighttime patterns. But the infrared laser illuminated points on the tree for ...

Fast growing, a mature river birch can reach a height of 70 feet. Heritage will grow about 30 inches or more each year in colder climates, and even faster in the south. Trees may be trained with ...