Are the white-barked birches a good choice for home landscapes in Iowa?
Unfortunately, the white-barked birches, such as paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and European white birch (Betula pendula), are not well adapted to our climate and usually succumb to the bronze birch borer. The river birch (Betula nigra) is a better choice for Iowa. Well adapted to stream banks and other moist sites, river birch develops a papery bark that peels away to expose a cinnamon-brown to reddish-brown inner bark. River birches exhibit tremendous variation in bark color, but the cultivar ‘Heritage’ consistently produces white to salmon-white bark on young wood, darkening to salmon-brown as the tree ages. How can I accelerate the decomposition of leaves in my compost pile? Leaves contain high levels of carbon and small amounts of nitrogen. The microbes that decompose leaves and other types of organic matter require nitrogen for their own metabolism and growth. A compost pile composed mainly of leaves decomposes slowly because the leaves don’t contain adequate levels of nitrogen
