One recent winter day, I drove by an overgrown meadow dominated by many red-twig dogwood shrubs and river birch trees located less than a mile south of New Holland, Pennsylvania. Both those kinds of woody vegetation need lots of sunlight and water to flourish, which they get in that abandoned pasture. Red-twigs and river birches are pretty in themselves, but together they are even more attractive in winter. And the meadow they grow in is bisected by a clear stream and carpeted by pale-beige reed canary-grass. The striking red-twigs and birches got me to thinking about other kinds of shrubs and trees that beautify moist bottomlands here in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Several species of deciduous trees and shrubs that flourish in local bottomlands have certain beauties in winter that make those habitats more enjoyable to experience. Some of these woody plants are in wooded swamps, others are along waterways in woods, and still others reside in overgrown cow pastures and sunny marshes. All these species are native to America. And all feed and/or house wildlife.
Red-twig dogwoods and red-osier dogwoods are striking shrubs of sunny marshes and wet meadows in winter. There the many red, supple twigs of each species brightens the open, beige wetlands they grow in, like long, thin tongues of flame. And there cottontail rabbits, white-tailed deer and field mice eat the lovely, tender stems of these two kinds of dogwoods. Some of these shrubs are planted on lawns because of their lovely, red twigs.
Winterberry shrubs are a deciduous holly, which means they lose their foliage in autumn and grow new leaves the next spring. They are native to wooded swamps in this area, but not commonly. In fall and through much of the following winter they bear many scarlet and attractive berries. They are fairly commonly planted on lawns because of those red berries that help brighten many a mitigated landscape in winter. The berries of winterberry shrubs are eaten by rodents and a variety of wintering, berry-eating birds, including northern mockingbirds and American robins.
Sycamore trees and river birch trees grow along waterways and each has interesting, attractive bark. The roots of these trees, and others, help hold down the soil against erosion when the waterways flood.
The gray bark of sycamores peels off in thin, little patches, as the trees grow, exposing the lighter, younger bark underneath. The result is trunks and branches of sycamores have mottled appearances of lighter and darker bark. Large sycamores have hollows that house a variety of wildlife species, including raccoons, barred owls and chickadees, to name a few.
River birches have outer bark that curls away from the inner bark in many attractive, paper-thin rolls that, to me, resemble tiny scrolls on their trunks and limbs. Those tightly-wrapped scrolls reveal the lovely, pale-orange bark growing beneath the curled bark. Sparrows and finches of various kinds each consume the tiny seeds these beautiful birches produce.
Ash-leafed maple trees develop in riparian woods along waterways. They, too, help hold down the soil of bottomlands during floods. Their paired, winged seeds that hang on their twigs through winter are their special winter beauty. But when those seeds do fall from their twig moorings, they spin down and away in the wind from the parent trees like blades of helicopters, which disperses their species far and wide. Meanwhile, many of those seeds are eaten by gray squirrels, northern cardinals and other kinds of wildlife.
Pin oak and white oak trees of moist, wooded bottomlands retain many of their dried, brown leaves through winter, adding more color and beauty to gray woods in winter. Sleet rattles through those dead, dried leaves and snow piles on them, adding to their beauty. Deer, a few kinds of squirrels, white-footed mice, blue jays, wild turkeys and other kinds of critters eat the acorns of these oaks through winter, again adding to their beauties.
All these pretty, bottomland trees and shrubs are waiting out there for you to admire them during winter. And many of those plants' virtues are easily visible from country roads and/or on lawns. One has only to get out for a walk or drive to see some of their lovely, striking adornments.
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