Winter Beauties: Layers of Decorative Bark

Just for Fall

Winter Beauties: Layers of Dramatic Bark

by Heather Prince

As we enjoy the last hurrah of autumn-

leaves in all their wonderful hues of yellow, orange, red, and purple, nighttime frosts begin to herald winter. Winter can have many moods from snow to ice to biting wind, but trees and shrubs can sparkle and shine, even without their leaves. Winter is the season for bark and structure. How can we add to an indoor view or capture attention in the season’s long low light? Consider adding these trees and shrubs to the landscape for a bit of winter magic.

Trees

We often demand that trees have four seasons of interest to charm us all year long. Trees are a big investment in money, but especially in time. They develop their own character and personality with age and in many cases outlive the folks who planted them. How can you enliven clients’ views and layer in more dynamic textures? Consider these seven trees for lovely leaves, pretty flowers, but most importantly — beautiful bark.

Betula alleghaniensis or yellow birch

How many paper birch logs have you used in containers or designs? There is something about white birch bark that calls to the rustic and the cozy. But not all birch has to be white or creamy. Yellow birch features silky, shimmery golden bark. It has stopped me dead in my tracks, wondering what is this fairy tale tree? Yellow birch is a hardwood birch that is prized for furniture. It is native to the Midwest, and like most birch, a fast grower. The tender twigs are satiny cherry-brown, maturing to golden bark peeling in thin horizontal strips. Larger in leaf and catkin than river or paper birch, it tolerates alkaline soil quite well and is bronze birch borer resistant. You can find it multi-stemmed or single. On a bright winter day, the bark glows against the snow.

Height: 60 to 75 feet Width: 60 to 75 feet Shape: rounded to oval Sun: full sun Soil: average to wet tolerant

Winter Beauties: Layers of Dramatic Bark

Cornus mas or cornelian cherry dogwood

This quietly elegant small tree is truly a four-season plant. Clusters of small yellow flowers typically bloom in March, giving it a cloud-like effect. Bright shiny-green leaves shelter bright-red fleshy fruit that is edible, if extremely tart. In autumn, leaves turn shades of red and purple before falling. Winter highlights its flaky, exfoliating bark and refined architecture. This dogwood is tough, hardy, disease resistant, and tolerant of a wide range of soils, including salt. The cultivar Golden Glory is a narrower variety, ideal for small urban spaces. As a multistemmed tree, it benefits from being shaped to showcase the bark. It can be a focal point or trained as a hedge, but make sure to look for its distinctive flowers in late winter. What a terrific option for under power lines or in clay soils!

Height: 15 to 20 feet Width: 10 to 15 feet Shape: vase to oval Sun: full sun to part shade Soil: average to drought tolerant

Just for Fall

Platanus acerifolia or London planetree The planetree showcases beautiful sycamorelike bark, but is disease-resistant, fast-growing, and has far fewer seeds. I love the peeling bark in many shades of cream, tan, and warm brown. Its leaves are significantly smaller than sycamore and almost silvery in the sun. With superior disease-resistance, you can enjoy those leaves early in the spring and all through summer. This is a tough tree that handles salt, clay, drought, wet soils, and almost anything thrown at it. It can be planted as a street tree or an elegant allee of these trees.

Height: 55 to 65 feet Width: 40 to 50 feet Shape: pyramidal to oval Sun: full sun Soil: dry to wet tolerant

Syringa pekinensis or Peking lilac There are a variety of cultivars of this easy-going, pest- and disease-free, fragrant flowering tree, but what sets it apart from Japanese lilac tree is the bark. Peking lilac features amber-colored, shiny, heavily lenticiled peeling bark. It glows against the snow in a winter landscape. Huge creamy-white flowers bloom in June and can perfume an entire property. However, I love it in winter when the light shines through the elegant architecture and sets the bark alight.

Height: 20 to 30 feet Width: 15 to 20 feet Shape: rounded to vase Sun: full sun to part shade Soil: average to moist well-drained

Quercus bicolor or swamp white oak Need a fast-growing, wet-tolerant shade tree? Swamp white oak is one of the few native oaks that loves wet feet. Thick dark-green leaves with silvery-white undersides charm all summer before drying and holding on until spring, giving it superior marks for screening out the neighbors. Yet, stop and spend some time with its bark. Fissuring at a young age, swamp white oak bark becomes flaky and peeling with age, revealing an orange inner bark. This oak is easy-going and tough, handling dry to wet soils (and occasional flooding), salt, and even black walnuts. Plus, oaks feed about 2,300 species of wildlife.

Height: 50 to 60 feet Width: 50 to 60 feet Shape: rounded to oval Sun: full sun Soil: dry to wet tolerant Prunus sargentii ‘JFS-KW58’ or Pink Flair® cherry Cherry bark is so beloved we use it as an adjective to describe other trees. Deep mahogany with horizontal lenticels and a shine all its own, we love cherries for their wonderful bark. Pink Flair® is a newer offering from J. Frank Schmidt & Co. and its clouds of pale-pink flowers in the spring bely its toughness. This cherry is rated to USDA Zone 3b and Schmidt has tested its hardiness across the U.S. It tends to bloom a week or two later, escaping early frosts. Fall color is a pleasing pumpkin-orange. Try this cultivar for all the romance of cherry blossoms and cherry bark on an enduring tree.

Height: 20 to 25 feet Width: 10 to 15 feet Shape: upright vase Sun: full sun to part shade Soil: average to moist well-drained

Ulmus parvifolia or lacebark elm Plant this elm where you can readily enjoy the bark. You’ll almost want to press your nose against it to really experience its myriad textures and idiosyncrasies. It reminds me of brocade in its richness of brown, cream, and grey. Lacebark elm is a mid-sized elm and available cultivars are exceptionally Dutch elm disease resistant. Tough and elegant, lacebark elm tolerates dry soils, clay, and road salt. Elms are another top species for birds and pollinators, so why not also be dazzled by the bark?

Height: 40 to 50 feet Width: 40 to 50 feet Shape: rounded

Shrubs

Shrubs bring color and texture to the mid-ground of our layered landscapes. They soften or screen and increase dimension between trees and the ground layer. In winter, when we may lose our drifts of perennials under snow, shrubs ground the landscape and focus views. With colorful or interesting bark, light is captured, the eye is caught, and the landscape comes alive.

Cornus sp. or red and yellow twig dogwood Dogwood shrubs step out of their leafy skirts and kick up their colorful heels best in winter. Tough, adaptable, sometimes fast growing and spreading, we treasure dogwood for the stems that light the landscape in snow and ice. There are myriad cultivars of dogwood available, but look for tried and true ‘Cardinal’ for height and stems that shade from yellow to deep red; ‘Kelsey’ at only 2 to 2-1/2 feet; ‘Bud’s Yellow’ for almost-neon yellow stems; or ‘Pucker Up’ for richly textural crinkled foliage and red stems. Site them against evergreens or within grasses for winter drama.

Height: 2 to 10 feet Width: 2 to 10 feet Shape: rounded to suckering Sun: full sun to part shade Soil: average to wet tolerant

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Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’ or Harry Lauder’s walking stick Harry Lauder’s walking stick or contorted hazel is an old-fashioned Victorian favorite for its sheer weirdness of shape. The twigs are densely contorted, twisted, and gnarled. Slow-growing, this adaptable shrub should be a focal point or specimen. Be prepared for the foliage to look wilted during the season. The long golden catkins give it an almost chandelier effect in late winter. It is susceptible to Eastern filbert blight, so regular monitoring and removal of infected twigs will allow you to enjoy this horticultural curiosity for many years. Height: 8 to 10 feet Width: 8 to 10 feet Shape: rounded Sun: full sun to part shade Soil: average to moist well-drained Hydrangea quercifolia or oak leaf hydrangea Hydrangeas are enjoying a renaissance with more and more cultivars hitting the market every year. An heirloom favorite, oak leaf hydrangea delivers on fourseason interest. Huge deep-green leaves layer over the stems in summer. White panicle flowers fade to shades of pink and mauve in summer. Autumn turns the leaves a deep burgundy-wine. In winter, the shaggy cinnamon bark is revealed as sturdy twigs hold the dried flowers aloft for a dusting of snow. Plan on a rugged coarse texture and enjoy with evergreens for delightful winter dimension. Height: 6 to 8 feet Width: 6 to 8 feet

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