An often-overlooked landscaping opportunity is the impact that attractive tree bark can have in a garden setting. Planning a landscape should include trees that can be used to create small, interesting scenes even without leaves.
A stroll through the woods on a mild winter day can awaken ideas that help to create such garden settings. And during rain or high humidity, the dark, velvet-green mosses and light gray- green lichens clinging to many trees are colorful assets that are often ignored in home gardens.
Following are some trees worth noticing:
- Red Maple - smooth-textured, mottled light gray trunk
- Crapemyrtle - smooth reddish bark
- River Birch - bark that peels off in curly flakes
- Winged Elm - brown to gray trunk and corky wings on its twigs and branches
- Sycamores - bark that flakes off in large sheets to expose new white and green bark
- Bald Cypress - cinnamon brown trunk with long, shallow divisions
Jackie Hope, Smith County Master Gardener
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