Garden Tips Newsletter
Showy Bark Adds Interest to the Winter
Landscape
December 15, 2008
In winter, garden features such as bark come into their own. If showy bark is missing in your landscape choose from the following suggestions and add some winter interest to your yard. Some are easily found at your local nursery, others may take an online search to locate a source.
There are several crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) selections that
have just downright showy bark. Look for Natchez, Tuskegee, Miami, Apalachee
and Biloxi. Try to find the Japanese crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia fauriei)
cultivars Townhouse and Fantasy for spectacular trunk coloration and
exfoliating bark.
River birches (Betula nigra) are known for their light, peeling bark. Heritage is an impressive selection of this tree that is suited to Mississippi. Other plants with exceptional bark are Chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia), paperbark maple (Acer griseum), ninebark (Physocarpus spp.), oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia), Cornelaincherry dogwood (Cornus mas), Japanese cornel dogwood (Cornus officinalis) and beautybush (Kolkwitzia amabilis).
For north Mississippi (Zone 7) we can choose from several other dogwood species that offer bright red or yellow stemmed selections, including tatarian dogwood (Cornus alba), bloodtwig dogwood (Cornus sanguine), and redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea). A tree that should be used more in the landscape is our Native American hornbeam or muslcewood (Carpinus caroliniana). Older branches and the trunk of this small tree develop a slate gray, smooth, irregularly fluted appearance that resembles a muscular, flexed human bicep or thigh. This tree grows muscles in your garden right alongside you as you work in your landscape!
All these can be planted during the dormant season.
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Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes Garden Tips weekly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.