Weeping Birch (Betula pendula)

If the weeping birch sounds like a depressing choice for a memorial tree, then you are not familiar with its twig structure. It can grow fifty to one hundred feet tall with a crown of slender, weeping twigs at the end of each branch. The effect, particularly in winter when the leaves are down, is of a firework just at the moment the sparks turn to cascade to the ground.

The tendril-like branches of the weeping birch allow plenty of sunlight to reach the ground beneath it. Thus it is common for a wide variety of mosses, grasses, and flowering plants to thrive in a birch forest. The tree is considered a “pioneer,” a hardy species that is the first to colonize a previously disrupted or damaged ecosystem, beginning a chain of ecological succession that leads to a more diverse, steady-state ecosystem. In other words, it’s a nurturing tree that doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past.

This tree sheet was taped to my side door when I got home from Lindy’s, and judging from its condition, it had been up a few days and endured a rainstorm or two.