Himalayan Birch or River Birch or vice versa ?

[bobm]

We bought a bank ownd home on a cul de sac in SW Wash.. All trees, shrubs, flowers were dead except for fence to fence waist high weeds. A couple of blocks away there are dozens of white barked trees as street trees. My wife liked them, so I called the city street tree department to ask what they were, their management, deceases, etc. since we have never seen one in Cal. before... White- barked Himalayan Birch- all positive comments. So I whent to a fairly large nursery with 2 locations in this area. They had only one Himalayan birch left in a 5 galon pot that hapened to have 3 trunks and was 8-9' tall. It had a label on it as Himalayan birch and stated that it grows to 25' tall . Perfect size for the pie shaped front yard. So, I braught it home, dug a planting hole, pruned quite a few crossed very small branches up to about 4-5', removed it from the pot, removed the 3" of wood mulch and there is another label on the base of one ot the 3 trunks stating it as Multi Stem River Birch. It has 3 trunks, tan slightly rough bark, I called the nursery to ask which one it was... gee I guess that you will know when it grows up. They ( the sales person as well as the manager) will not take it back or refund $s since I removed it from it's pot and pruned some small branches. GRrrrr !

 

[catjac1975]

I would guess it is the multi stem variety because it has more than one stem. If you really want your money back you should go in person and speak to a manager. You should check to see if there is a difference in price between the two varieties and at least get the difference if you over paid. If you placed the tree in the lawn it may be a better choice anyway. If it was a large heavy tree do you really want to dig it up and return it? I would however take my business elsewhere next time. You may have spoken with an employee who just did not want to be bothered with your issue. The owner or manager should want to make you happy. I always
weigh how much trouble it is for me to return it. Their reasons for not taking it back are ridiculous as they made the error.

 

[thistlebloom]

Most white barked varieties of birch take a few years until they mature enough for the white bark to be evident. But Himalayan birches will show their white bark while still immature. So what you probably have is a River Birch.

Around here, nurseries sell their stock at a big discount in the fall before they close for the winter. I don't know a single one that guarantees their fall sales stock. But I agree with Cat, see if you can speak with a manager, most nursery owners would rather lose a few bucks rather than a customer, but it's probably best to go in congenially .

Mislabeling happens often enough, and it's not always the nurseries fault, sometimes it originates at the supplier.

 

[catjac1975]

Even if it's the suppliers fault the one who took your money is responsible.

 

[thistlebloom]

Even if it's the suppliers fault the one who took your money is responsible.

Yep.