Late winter is a great time to notice how certain trees and shrubs provide seasonal interest and complement each other in the landscape.
As the snow recedes, the grays, tans and browns in the landscape offer a subtle background for plants with color to pop.
Red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) is one of the most striking shrubs at this time of year. The red stems are somehow more brilliant in spring against the brown landscape than they are against the white snow. A native plant that is adapted to both wet and dry conditions, the red twig dogwood is often seen in roadside ditches, wetlands or riparian buffers.
Willows (Salix spp.) also have colorful first-year stems from yellow to coral-red. These prefer wet areas like riparian buffers or wetlands but are highly adaptable to other conditions.
Many native evergreens including white spruce (Picea glauca) and white pine (Pinus strobus) are more vibrant at this time of year. The steadfast green needles give life to a landscape in waiting. White pine and white spruce prefer moist and well-drained soil.
Other native plants with striking features now are staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) and river birch (Betula nigra).
Staghorn sumac is a small tree that has clusters of jewel-red berries that sit upright on the slightly curved and open-structured branches. Sumac grows in disturbed areas including riparian buffers, near rail lines or on roadsides. The berries provide late-winter food for birds when food supplies may run low.
River birch with its white, tan and even pink peeling bark is beautiful at this time of year. Multi-stem river birch has a poetic, weeping form with pendulous catkins at the tips of branches. This species prefers moist to well-drained soils such as found in riparian areas, but it tolerates more residential or yard conditions as well.
Also in the birch family, speckled alder (Alnus rugosa) is another native plant that attracts attention with its clusters of tiny, deep brown cones from the previous season. The cones adorn the tips of branches and decorate this small tree in late winter. Speckled alder prefers riparian buffers, edges of wetlands and other moist areas.
Finally, trees like red oak (Quercus rubra) or swamp white oak (Q. bicolor) can hold on to their stiff, copper-colored leaves through winter and offer a brilliant contrast to bright bluebird spring skies. Like other plants discussed above, these trees prefer moist soils.
The combination of the deep greens of evergreens, red stems of dogwoods, river birch bark and fruit clusters of sumac complement each other and give hints of what is soon to come – spring!
Many of these trees and shrubs grow in the wild, but they also can be cultivated and grown in garden settings. When planning ahead for new gardens, consider native plants like these that truly provide year-round interest and fit nicely into your ecosystem and character.
For help in choosing trees and shrubs for your landscape, check out the tree selection tool at https://go.uvm.edu/tree-selection.
by Bonnie Kirn Donahue, Extension Master Gardener, UVM
Featured photo: River birch with its colorful peeling bark and white spruce with its dense green foliage add beauty to an otherwise bleak winter landscape. Photo by Bonnie Donahue
