(Swiss Chard)

A 1998 All-American Selections Winner, 'Bright Lights' chards are as tasty as they are beautiful. This popular chard mix offers plants with colorful stems of yellow, red, orange, pink and apricot topped with enormous leaves of deep green or purple. The stems even hold their color after cooking.

Swiss chard is planted for its big crinkled leaves that can be eaten in salads, soups or simply steamed or sautéed. Usually grown as an annual, it is a true biennial. Unlike its cousin the beet, chard...

(Birch, Crimson Frost Birch)

Not only does the attractive white bark dazzle year 'round, the Crimson Frost birch provides magnificent burgundy-red to purple foliage from spring to autumn. This cultivar is a hybrid, derived from a cross between Betula platyphylla var. szechuanica and B. pendula ‘Purpurea’. It attains a rather narrow, pyramidal habit at maturity.

In early spring, drooping flower clusters called catkins dangle from the naked branches. Male and female flowers occur in separate catkins...

(Chinese Red Birch)

A rather large deciduous tree that has a rounded to conical habit, the Chinese red birch is mainly grown for its ornamental bark. Bark ranges from pinkish brown to copper or orange-red and peels away in thin sheets, revealing a smooth white to gray underlayer. The outer bark layer also is covered in a white powdery bloom, especially when young. This plant is native to central and western China.

In early spring tiny flowers appear in pendulous catkins that droop from the branches. The leaves emerge...

(Yellow Birch)

A metallic amber-brown bark that peels away is the all-season highlight of the yellow birch. This deciduous tree is dense and cone-shaped in its youth, eventually maturing with a rounded to irregular habit after three decades. Yellow birch is native to the cool, moist soils of eastern North America.

The dull, dark green leaves are pointed ovals with fine teeth on the margins. Leaf undersides are a lighter shade. In early spring, just as leaves emerge, catkins don the branches. Male catkins are...

(Sweet Birch)

Attaining a rounded but broad, spreading canopy when mature, the sweet or cherry birch is renowned for its attractive reddish bark. The bark becomes scaled and charcoal gray with age and lenticels dot the bark, much like that seen on cherry trees. The deciduous sweet birch tree is native to much of eastern North America, with adjunct populations in the cooler, higher elevations of the American Southwest.

The satin-gloss to matte green leaves are pointed ovals with fine teeth on the margins. Leaf...

(Manchurian Birch)

A beautiful, upright, white-barked deciduous tree, this native of Northeast Asia is known in gardens primarily by its variety japonica. The single or sometimes branched trunk is clad in chalky, milk-white bark, giving it year-round interest. Attractive elongated pores (lenticels) decorate the trunk and branches. The relatively large, triangular, toothed leaves alternate along dark brown twigs. The leaves turn yellow in autumn. The foliage tends to emerge in early spring, making it vulnerable...

(Japanese White Birch)

A beautiful, upright, white-barked deciduous tree, this native of Japan is the most widely grown variety of Manchurian birch. The single or sometimes branched trunk is clad in chalky, milk-white bark, giving it year-round interest. Attractive elongated pores (lenticels) decorate the trunk and branches. The relatively large, triangular, toothed leaves alternate along dark brown twigs. The leaves turn yellow in autumn. The foliage emerges later in spring than that of typical Manchurian birch, making...

(Monarch Birch)

Pretty bark, massive leaves and excellent/reliable golden fall foliage color are prized attributes of the monarch birch. This rather fast-growing deciduous tree is native to Russia's Kurile Islands and Japan. It has an open habit when young but becomes quite stiff and upright - more so than other birch species - at maturity.

Monarch birch's bark is orange or pink-tinged bark that becomes grayish white. It peels away in horizontal strips. Another key identification feature are the leaves. They...

(River Birch)

River birch is a handsome, often multi-stemmed, fast growing tree that is native to the central and southeastern United States. Its most notable ornamental feature is its beautiful peeling bark that appears in mixed shades on white, rust-orange, gray and brown. Like other birches, it has elongated catkins, which appear in spring, and its medium-green leaves turn a dirty yellow in the fall. Its seeds ripen in late spring, much earlier than other birch species.

This tree is a wise selection for...

(Dura-Heat® River Birch, River Birch)

Dura-heat river birch is a handsome, often multi-stemmed, fast growing tree that is native to the southeastern and central United States. Its most notable ornamental feature is beautiful peeling bark that appears in mixed shades of salmon to cinnamon exposing a creamy-white inner bark. Dura-Heat ('Bnmtf') river birch has a pyramidal shape, dark green, diamond-shaped, double-toothed leaves and is quite heat tolerant. Dura-Heat is a bit more compact than other river birches but still matures to a...