The Beauty of Bare Branches

When we talk about winter colour we often mean winter flowers, berries and evergreen shrubs. It is easy, however, to overlook an importance source of interest and that is the bare branches of shrubs and trees. Hidden under a cloak of leaves all summer is a wealth of stem colours, forms and textures which come into their own during the winter months.

Perhaps best known for their winter stems are the dogwoods (Cornus), particularly Cornus alba 'Sibirica' which has bright red stems. There are other cultivars of this species including 'Elegantissima' which has red stems and variegated leaves, and 'Kesselringii' which has purplish-black stems. Cornus stolonifera 'Flaviramea' has greenish yellow stems, whilst my favourite Cornus sanquinea 'Winter Flame' has stems that graduate from orangey yellow to orangey red, giving a flame-like effect. It also has excellent autumn leaf colour and is one of the last deciduous shrubs to drop its leaves. The best stem colour comes from young shoots, so all varieties of Cornus do best if cut back hard in spring (once established). This makes them a good choice for small gardens as this annual cutting back prevents them becoming too big. Dogwoods like moist soil, although Cornus sanquinea is more tolerant than the others of dry conditions.

Similar to the dogwoods are the willows. Salix alba 'Britzensis' has red-orange stems whilst 'Tristis' has yellow. Salix acutifolia 'Blue Streak', as you can imagine, has grey-blue stems coated with a white bloom and Salix x wimmeriana 'Yelverton' has red-brown stems. All can be cut back hard in spring in the same way as the dogwoods, and similarly like moist soil. Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' is the twisted willow and has spiralling stems and branches which look great silhouetted against the winter sky and are also good cut and used in flower arrangements. It is a vigorous grower and can be left to develop into a tree, but in small gardens it can be cut back hard to keep it as a shrub.

The contorted hazel (Corylus avellana 'Contorta') is similar to the twisted willow but is slower growing. It is also more difficult to propagate and therefore more expensive to buy.

Less well-known than the willows and the dogwoods are the ornamental brambles such as Rubus thibetanus and Rubus cockburnianus. They are thicket-forming deciduous shrubs which produce arching white-bloomed shoots in winter.

If you are looking for beautiful winter bark there are a variety of trees to choose from. The obvious choice is a silver birch - the common silver birch (Betula pendula) is well known and has attractive silvery-white bark with dark markings - but there are two other varieties with even more outstanding bark. The Himalayan birch (Betula utilis jacquemontii) has very pale white bark which seems to glow in the winter gloom, whilst the paper birch (Betula papyrifera) has bark which peels away from the trunk in paper-like curls.

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