"They’d probably rather replace it with a non-native ornamental that’ll kill itself when it gets too big and its branches ...

As a boy, I recall my brother-in-law telling of the romantic concept of writing love letters on bark peeled from a birch tree. I haven’t given much thought to birch trees or birch wood since then.

Just like every individual is unique, so are trees. No two trees grow at the same rate, have the same leaf pattern, or have identical bark. However, each tree species has specific characteristics that ...