Colorful bark brightens winter
It’s true that you can’t judge a book by its cover. But you CAN appreciate some trees and shrubs for theirs. After autumn leaves fall, colorful bark and stems become a winter landscape attraction.
If the idea of adding more winter interest to your yard sounds appealing, there are woody plants of all sizes from which to choose.
Among shrubs, red-twig dogwoods are some of the best known and most widely planted. Their bright red stems are magnificent, at their best when the shrubs are backed by evergreens and the ground is covered by fresh snow. If you don’t have room for a dogwood shrub that is 8 or 10 feet tall, these days you have compact choices less than half that size.
There are also yellow-stem dogwood selections and Arctic Fire, which is yellow tipped with red.
A willow hybrid named Flame brightens the winter landscape with flaming orange-red stems. Although it’s a large, multistemmed shrub, you can also choose to cut it back to a few inches every year in early spring for a more compact plant.
I easily overlook all the green stems in July, but green stems in January are something special. Japanese kerria, a mid-sized shrub that thrives in the shade, retains its bright green stems throughout the winter. So does a small shrub called Dyer’s greenwood. Both have yellow summer flowers for weeks on end.
The peeling white bark of a mature sycamore tree is a beautiful sight. But this tree grows up to 100 feet tall and requires a large space. A better fit for today’s smaller yards is the paperbark maple. Its trunk is a winter standout, with peeling bark the color of cinnamon. This small tree grows slowly to only 20 to 30 feet tall.
The trunk of the lacebark elm is mottled with orange, gray and brown. A medium-size shade tree, it has built-in resistance to Dutch elm disease.
The American yellowwood is another mediumsize tree with smooth, gray bark that resembles a beech. A perfect tree for gardeners, it has fragrant wisteria-like spring flowers and deep roots that make it easy to grow plants beneath its branches.
Of all the trees with beautiful peeling bark, the birches are best known and most widely planted. White birch is a favorite, thanks to its white bark that eventually peels to reveal reddish-orange beneath. Trouble is, if this tree suffers from drought, high heat or other stress, it is often attacked by borers. More durable substitutes include varieties of river birch such as medium-size Heritage or pint-size Little King. Both were selected for peeling bark that is more colorful than other river birches.