We love our River Birch tree. We planted it when we built the house and it remains one of my favorites as it grows more interesting with time. It does well in most growing conditions and will even tolerate wet feet. Ours now surpasses the roof in height and stretches its arms wide. Birds and squirrels rest in it as they wait their turns at the nearby feeder and each autumn when it sheds its leaves, I find large cocoons suspended from high branches. My favorite "guest", however, is the barred owl who spends very early mornings there and sometimes shares his"Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?" song.
The bark is quite unique. Yesterday the strong winds peeled off papery pieces and scattered them.
One of those hunks landed right outside the door, so I decided to make a rustic vase. Using a small cylindrical vase I had on hand (about 6 inches tall), I simply wrapped the bark around. To give it a more "earthy" feel, I tied some natural craft twine, midway, to hold it together. Even a glass jar would have worked fine. What could be more simple than a woodland vase made from a birch?
Do you think this vase is tree-mendous?