Québec Trees in the Spring

Introduction: The Grey Birch

Each species has its own particular growth requirements. The grey birch is quite content in any soil. Its sole requirement: plenty of sunlight.

Nature has given the grey birch an ingenious reproductive system: its fruit appears as cones once its flowers have bloomed in the spring. The cone scales protect the seeds throughout the winter. At the first sign of spring, when March showers come, the cones swell with water and then burst when cold weather returns.

The seed of the grey birch is so small and light that it almost never attaches itself to the ground on its own. It gets blown here and there, waiting on a leaf or blade of grass until a deer comes along. The hard hoof of the deer presses the seed into the soil where moisture causes it to germinate. The hoof print creates a miniature clearing that sun rays will heat throughout the day.