Betula pendula in the U.S.?

[RavenFeather]

For Nursery management class we have a project where we have to collect/attempt to propagate 100 tree seeds (and our progress will be tracked through the next few semesters of nursery management). I was considering doing Betula pendula for this project, because of my Finnish heritage and it being the Finnish national tree, however the Dirr manual and my professor both say that B. pendula is SUPER suseptable to Bronze Birch borer (Agrilus Anxius), and most other cultivars of B. pendula look almost nothing like the species. Does anyone know of a good resistant variety that would look like "standard" B. pendula? Or should I just try for my second choice Picea abies?

 

[BigGthetree]

It's a fast growing tree here in Oregon and in Southern California. Doesn't live very long because of the disease problems. Ten years is a long time for this tree to live. Very beautiful and folks like them for the weeping branches and the white bark. But they have a high mortality rate and as I mentioned, even if they do establish themselves, they just get looking really nice and then the branch die off starts and eventually the whole tree. We tend to use them as a short term grower until the primary trees reach their show size and shape.

 

[BigGthetree]

Almost forgot. The Picea Abies "pendula" is a wonderful specimine, one of my favorites. Real crowd pleaser during mid to late life. I always recommend it to folks because it is seldom seen and can handle creative pruning. Really looks nice in a riverbed setting with lots of stone and gravels. Deer don't seem to bother it either. They seem to really like chewing on the bark of most paper Birches.

 

[beastmaster]

They are a beautiful tree especially when planted in small groves or groupings with a few boulders thrown in around them. There very common here in So. Calif. and yes I see lots of them with the bronze borer, but not so many that I would be afraid to use them in a landscape setting. They're a short lived tree in hot climates, but I think their worse enemy isn't the borer but poor tree care. They don't compartmentalize very well and won't take topping or heavy pruning well. That is what kills them more often them not. I'm sure there must be an IPM program that would help keep them borer free. Beastmaster