Hello, I’m hoping someone can reassure me. My Young’s Weeping Birch, currently the prize centrepiece of my garden, started making its displeasure known early last week about (I assume) being overwatered. I had watered it a bit in the mornings and then it had rained a couple of days in a row. A couple of leaves turned yellow. Accordingly, I stopped watering it for about two, two and a half days, to let it calm down. There were some warm days in that period, and of course, the tree freakin fried. So now, many of its leaves are dead and dry and fall off if I touch them.
I am heartbroken and have spent the weekend in tears because of this. I’m planning an event for this coming weekend and I think everyone will think I am a horrible gardener and that my garden is ugly.
The only place I can find that sells weeping birch is Connon Nurseries in Newmarket (I am downtown Toronto). Trees there are over $500.
My partner says the tree is having a bad couple of days and will rebound. I have been watering it gently but consistently the last few days and given it Miracle Gro, and it has good drainage.
I know it won’t come back in time for my party this weekend, but will it come back at all? I have attached a picture, which sort of shows the damage.
It has otherwise flourished in its current location. It gets sun all day, a little breeze, lots of love.
Thank you for contacting Toronto Master Gardeners for advice on your beautiful but sad looking Weeping Birch (Betula pendula ‘Youngii’). Despite your heroic efforts to care for your birch, this tree may not be happy located where it is now. You are correct in keeping the soil moist with frequent watering, but it is likely that this effort is not sufficient to keep the tree healthy. European birches are found in nature near ponds and often grow in the understory of larger birches or other trees which keeps their roots coolish. So I don’t think this decline started by over-watering, if you are correct that you have good drainage. From your photo it appears that this tree is planted in full sun. In Toronto’s hot and humid summers where temperatures are well above 24C this tree will struggle. If you can find a place for it in partial shade where it receives only the morning sun, and not the hot midday sun, it may spring back. If you choose to replant it, you may want to have an arborist do the work. Arborists can be found at the Landscape Ontario web site. Transplanting will take you to another link on of how to do this yourselves. Although the spring or fall would be a better time to transplant the tree, I think it would be wise to do it sooner than later especially if the summer is hot. But follow the advice of the arborist. The two websites below contain general information about European Birch which you may find helpful. Oh, by the way, all gardeners are continually learning about plants, often by making mistakes. One gardening ‘rule’ to remember is “Right plant for the Right place”. I hope your weekend gathering turned out well. I’m sure your guests were impressed with your garden.