Using Bark to Add Winter Beauty

When the foliage falls in autumn, some shrubs and trees reveal what might be their most ornamental and beautiful element; their bark. So easily overlooked when first selecting a tree or shrub for your garden design, this is an important aspect to consider when looking at a year-round garden. After all, with fewer flowers to distract, every element in a winter garden is on display.

Texture: Some bark is lovely because of its unique texture like the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) which is a large stately shade tree growing 60-75′ tall and 50-60′ wide. It is hardy in zones 4-8 and the bark ages to a dark gray-brown that contrasts nicely with the snow and adds texture with its long, deep furrows and ridges. Bright golden leaves in the fall make this a lovely addition to the landscape.

The Heritage Birch Tree (Betula bigra ‘Heritage’) is hardy in zones 3b-9 and grows 40-60′ tall and 40-60′ wide. The texture of its bark is unique with the beautiful silvery outer bark peeling back in large patches to reveal a creamy tan inner bark. It is also another tree with brilliant fall foliage.

The Winterberry Euonymus (Euonymus bungeanus ‘Pink Lady’) is a shrub that grows only 15′ tall and 8-12′ wide in zones 4-7. Weeping branches hold bright pink berries, yellow fall foliage, and deeply textured winter bark make this an excellent year-round specimen.

Color: Sometimes trees have beautiful bark from color that only shows well during the winter. The Coral bark maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sangokaku’) is one of these. A small tree growing 20′ tall and wide, this popular maple has striking red bark that is prominent in the fall and winter. Preferring shade in the afternoon in warmer climates this maple is hardy in zones 5-8.

(Ulmus porvifolia ‘Frontier’) or Frontier Elm is a 30-40′ tall and 15-30′ wide tree with mottled bark in many hues. With patches of orange, gray, brown and green this uniquely colored bark would rival Joseph’s coat of many colors. It also adds red-purple fall foliage and a beautiful growth habit silhouette. Scroll through the pictures to see its winter beauty.

There are several varieties of multi-stemmed dogwoods that come in brilliant red such as this ‘Artic Fire’ or glowing yellow. These thin branched beauties do better planted in masses where the effect is cumulative and thus more striking. You may plant fewer if you place them in front of a solid wall, a bank of evergreens, a fence, or some other backdrop that will help them stand out more. The effect of these glowing shrubs is anything but subtle!

Learning to use the bark of plants to add interest to the winter garden gets easier as we learn to look beyond the basics of a plant. See all six ways to use plants in the garden for winter interest.