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Subtle Pleasures - Bark

© Marge Talt

All woody plants have bark, but it's not something most gardeners think about much until after autumn leaf fall when form and bark become prominent. Bark can be subtle or flamboyant. It's always worth close scrutiny. You may find that sometimes the beauty of a plant's bark is why you give it a home in your garden. If the enchantments of bark have eluded you, come along with me on a little tour of only a handful of the many species and cultivars of woody plants whose extraordinary bark enriches our gardens.

Subtle Textures

Most bark's beauty is subtle. It lies in gradations of color and texture that require touch as well as sight to appreciate.

A perfect example is our native beech, Fagus grandifolia, whose smooth cool, gray bark is almost silky. The close-up shows green patches of moss beginning to form.

Bark, like our skin, protects the inner cells so they can function. Our skin is elastic, and stretches as we grow. Some trees, like the beech, have thin bark that can grow with them, but most, like this old pine, have stiff bark that cracks in patterns unique to each tree, forming ridges and plates of great beauty.

The almost square plates are even more prominent on our native common persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, becoming raised chunks, each visible from some distance.

The wildlife are generous with their plantings of this tree on our property. The photograph is a trunk I see from my bedroom window upon awakening. There's a crook in the trunk that gives it additional character.

Instead of plates, some bark becomes ridged, like the Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioica) [left photo], providing a ropy, muscular texture. Younger trees have a quite different appearance. On the right is the native redbud, Cercis canadensis, whose ridged outer bark splits and falls off, revealing layers underneath. This only happens, I understand, once a tree has passed the thirty year mark. Mine is a mere child of fifteen and has not even begun to show heavy ridging...I can hardly wait for the next fifteen years!

Not So Subtle Stripes

Acer davidii, the beautiful snakebark maple, is a Chinese species, not as readily available as it ought to be. On the left is a young stem, showing the typical striping over greenish bark. On the right is a more mature trunk from a specimen photographed at Barry Yinger's Asiatica Nursery this spring. He maintains it is the true species and said that most in cultivation today are not. It is said to be a variable species at any rate. Whatever...it's a tree I've long wanted.