Winter brings its own beauty to the garden. While many plants are sleeping, some are putting on their winter show. Some evergreens change color, from summer green to winter red, rust, or purple. The dry grasses sway in the wind. Buds appear and with a little warmth start to show color. The Lenten Roses are some of the earliest and are in bud now. So is the Japanese Apricot and the Star Magnolia. Other trees and shrubs reveal their exfoliating bark, such as the Oakleaf  Hydrangea and the Paperback Maple.

The Paperback Maple is a great landscape tree. It grows 20 to 30 feet tall and slightly less wide. It is somewhat upright, oval, and open in shape with dark green, trifoliate leaves that turn russet-orange to red in the fall. This tree prefers well-drained, moist, loamy soil, but adapts well to clay and sandy soil. Sun or part shade is fine. It has no serious pests or diseases. The bark is a beautiful cinnamon brown which exfoliates in thin strips. Growth is relatively slow but the bark begins exfoliating early. In the winter landscape this tree is spectacular. Our Paperback Maple is along the sidewalk below the wisteria arbor.

A walk through the garden in winter is a treasure hunt. Look for interesting seeds, bark, color, limb structure, and flower buds—the promise of spring to come.

See you in the garden at Tanglewood.

Join us for our winter walking tour with Toby Bost on Wednesday, January 30 at 11:00 a.m.