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Winter Interest IV - Colorful Twigs and Bark

© Carol Wallace

One area of the winter garden where it's possible to get real color is in the use of trees with interesting bark, twigs. Once I discovered some of these plants I began to realize that even in the colder areas of the country winter does not have to mean an absence of bright color.

Trees with colored twigs

I admit that I was not impressed the first time I planted a shrub for winter twig color. With most shrubs in this class, the color shows best on young wood - and the colored twig dogwood that I planted had not been cut back in early spring. So the show I got to see was of some twigs in so deep a burgundy that they may as well have been brown.

WINTER BARK AND TWIGS BY COLOR RED Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' Cornus alba 'Siberica' Cornus alba'Argenteo-marginata' Cornus alba Gouchalti' Cornus sericea C.sericea 'Cardinal' C. sericea 'Isanti' Rosa sericea pteracantha. Salix matsudana 'Scarlet Curls' Salix alba 'Britzensis' Salix chaenomeloides YELLOW Cornus sericea 'Silver and Gold' Salix matsudana 'Golden Curls' Mountain Ash CORAL Salix alba 'Chermesina' Prunus maackii. Cornus sanguineus 'Midwinter Fire' Cornus sanguineus 'Winter Beauty' Acer griseum Lagerstroemia Natchez' PURPLE/BLUE Salix irrorata Salix purpurea 'Nana' Salix daphnoides Salix melanostachys WHITE Betula jacquemontii Rubus cockburnianus Rubus thibetanus

Bright colored dogwoods
The next year's display was good - but not great. It wasn't until I got the idea of massing a few of the Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' (Red-twigged dogwood) that I really understood what the fuss was all about. In a group, the bark color really shines - especially if it is seen against either a very light background (as in snow) or a very dark one.

Inspired, I planted an entire hedgerow of these plants - and they are very red indeed - and very cheerful on a gray winter's day.

Many of the shrub dogwoods are valued more for their winter twigs than their summer foliage - although C. 'Elegantissima' is lovely year-round with it's brightly variegated foliage and colorful branches.

But I'm fickle. No sooner had I planted red-twigged dogwoods than I found a new type with incredibly colorful twigs, that go from deep red through coral, orange and finally yellow - like a twiggy flame. I barely gave Cornus sanguineus 'Midwinter Fire' a chance to get a price tag on it, fresh from the nursery truck before I grabbed it and ran home to plant it. And it has exceeded my expectations. I didn't care about being the first on the block, but I sure wasn't chancing allowing someone else to grab this prize shrub. If you can get only one of the many colored twig dogwoods, this is the one I recommend.