The trees that cause me many hours of weeding are bigleaf maples - Acer macrophyllum. Sometimes I use pole pruners and cut off as many bunches of seeds as I can reach. I'm trying to picture birch trees with seeds - I suspect they don't gather them in convenient bunches like the maple does. If I had lots of seedpots and pots with dormant bulbs, I would cover them with a king-sized sheet in seed shedding season. Then - hmm. Into the washer? Your problems may diminish. Birch trees here have problems. European birch has been used a lot here - in parks, gardens and even as a boulevard tree along some of our streets. The tops are now dead, but I can't remember why. Something fairly new here. Diane Whitehead Victoria, British Columbia, Canada maritime zone 8, cool Mediterranean climate mild rainy winters, mild dry summers > I live in a townhouse alongside some birch trees. As you may know, > a single birch produces millions of seed each season - every one > viable! Birch seed seeps in through the tiniest cracks; it gets > into everything: bedding, rugs, toweling, pet's hair; it forms > windrows in the driveway. My pots get covered with a "mulch" of > viable birch seed.