Trees with Ornamental Bark
The winter garden does not have to be gray and boring. Gardeners everywhere have become increasingly keen to provide winter interest in their gardens.
Trees with ornamental bark provide year round interest but a snowy winter is the best time to appreciate them. Bark can be patchy, peeling, colourful , shiny or dull. The bark of most trees becomes more ornamental as they mature.
When you plant trees with ornamental bark consider siting them against a backdrop of evergreens or conifers which will help show off their unique bark especially in winter. Planting them so they can be seen from indoors is a bonus.
There are many trees with interesting bark. The following list is a sample of ornamental trees that should grow in Northumberland Gardens (CND zone 5)
Paperbark Maple (acer griseum) – peeling, cinnamon coloured bark
Japanese Stewartia (stewartia pseudocamellia) – exfoliating gray, red and orange bark
Seven Son Flower (heptocodium miconiodes) – a multi stemmed shrub or small tree with tan bark exfoliating to reveal an attractive brown inner bark
Dawn Redwood (metasequoia glyptostroboides) – a deciduous conifer with dark red-brown fissured bark exfoliating in narrow strips
Coral Bark Maple ( acer palmatum ‘Sango-Kaku’) – a Japanese maple with coral, orange, red stems in winter
Bihou Japanese Maple (acer palmatum ‘Bihou’ ) – bright yellow, peachy coral stems – zone 6?