about birches
WHY Triple birch?
We believe that the art of collaboration is about talented people coming together to create something greater than any individual might accomplish.
Similarly, birch trees grow better planted together in a clump -- and that became the inspiration for our name.
Many gardeners believe that planting three or more birches together increases the visual impact of the trees.
The birch tree cannot thrive unless its roots are in moist shade and its crown gets full sun. One can obtain those objectives by planting three birches together.
In Roman mythology, birches are associated with the three Graces -- beauty, charm, and fertility -- often represented as godesses with smooth bodies standing in a circle.
The birch is a pioneer tree that quickly establishes on land that may have been damaged -- it was one of the first species to thrive after the Ice Age.
Native American traditions prized the birch for its flexible, highly waterproof sheets of bark, used for canoes, houses, baskets, artwork, and maps. In some Ojibwe communities, birchbark was sacred and was used to wrap the bodies of the dead. Ojibwe folklore has it that birch trees are immune to lightning strikes and that are good trees to shelter under during a thunderstorm.
BIRCHES IN LITERATURE
“...I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches
up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven,
till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top
and set me down again.
That would be good
both going and coming back.
One could do worse than
be a swinger of birches.
”
BENEATH yon birch with silver bark,
And boughs so pendulous and fair,
The brook falls scatter’d down the rock:
And all is mossy there!
And there upon the moss she sits,
The Dark Ladié in silent pain;
The heavy tear is in her eye,
And drops and swells again.
From The Ballad of the Dark Ladié
By Samuel Taylor Coleridge
---------
"The birch path is one of the prettiest places in the world." It was. Other people besides Anne thought so when they stumbled upon it. It was a little narrow, twisting path, winding down over a long hill straight through Mr. Bell's woods, where light came down sifted through so many emerald screens that it was as flawless as the heart of a diamond. It was fringed in all its length with slim young birches, white-stemmed, and starflowers and wild lilies-of-the-valley and scarlet tufts of pigeon berries grew thickly along it; and always there was a delightful spiciness in the air and music of bird calls and the murmur and laugh of wood winds in the trees overhead.
~L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
This fairy is known as "the lady of the woods" for her graceful presence. Like many fairies, the birch fairy can open the portals to the subtle realms. The birch is associated with cleansing and freshness, and the goddess Arianrhod is invoked using birch, to attract fertility and aid creativity.
Being close to the birch fairy is clearing to the mind. She will help you let go of stress and have faith in yourself, in the knowledge that you will find a way to cope. Birch is a potent female energy that brings faith and gladness. However, the birch fairy may become angry if trees near her are damaged - she holds something of the repressed energy of the feminine principle, which has been denigrated for many centuries, and she can be fierce.
If you need a clear head for a new venture, or need to leave behind you anything that is negative or contaminating, birch fairy is a great support. She will send cool, cleansing breezes that revitalize. More than any other fairy, she appreciates a little care for the Wildwood being given in return.
