Gazing out upon the winter garden can be a dismal prospect. All is dark and drear, dead as the proverbial doornail. It need not be. Consider adding a few shrubs his spring noted for their brightly-coloured winter twigs. Dogwood's bark has spark, as Brit gardening guru Alan Titchmarsh observes. He particularly likes the relatively new Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' which has yellow/orange/amber stems that look like flicker flames in the off-season, he suggests.
Titchmarsh is also enamoured with Cornus alba 'Sibirica' with brilliant red stems. He does note, though, that as young stems are the best coloured to cut back older ones in early spring. Admittedly 'Silverleaf' dogwood, Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' has maroon twigs, but the variegated summer foliage is not to everybody's taste. Better to use 'Yellow-twig' dogwood, C. sericea, also said to be deer-resistant. A companion planting might include Japanese Kerria, Kerria japonica, featuring brilliant green twigs over winter, yellow blooms in spring and light, lacy foliage the rest of the season. All these shrubs will tolerate a range of soils and exposures, so long as the soil is kept moist.
Wes Porter is a horticultural consultant and writer based in Toronto. Wes has over 40 years of experience in both temperate and tropical horticulture from three continents.
