Pest battle with Silver Birch — and how I won

I had a serious problem with scale insects or aphids in the canopy attracting sooty mould on my Silver Birch earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate exceptional seasonal spectacle from blossom through autumn colour, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a boundary or avenue planting in a larger space and improved my attention to keeping a mulch-free collar immediately around the trunk. blossom or leaf burst in spring creating dramatic transformation was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.