Birches are excellent trees for small gardens, with lovely fresh green leaves in spring, casting light shade in summer, usually golden yellow leaves in autumn, and wonderful bark all year, but particularly prominent in winter. The one drawback is that the roots are near the surface, so there is competition for nutrients if other plants are placed too close.

Betula bomiensis is a small tree with distinctive arching branches, eventually growing to about 8 m. It grows wild on the edges of broad-leaved forests or dry scrub. Only four collections exist in herbaria, these coming from places spread over more than 1000 km in eastern Xizang and Qinghai. It is self-incompatible, so several plants must be grown together if seed that will come true is desired.