SHEER BEAUTIES

Homeowners often express a desire to include plants with winter interest in their landscapes. The term “winter interest” in these instances is shorthand for shrubs and trees that hold their leaves year-round. While I am a big fan of evergreens trees, like blue spruce, mugo pine, Korean fir and native holly, my years in the garden have introduced me to many deciduous trees that are just as captivating even after they lose their leaves. These trees have excellent form and beautiful bark, and some even provide pops of winter color with persisting fruit.

BUR OAK

. Oak trees are renowned for their strength and longevity, but the bur oak’s charm resides in its expressive form. With a native range from Missouri to Ontario, bur oaks tolerate drought and dry soils but thrive in bottomlands. Hardy from USDA Zones 3 to 8, this cousin to the white oak () needs full sun to perform best. Large, oval acorns with bur-edged cups give it its common name. These cups cling to the twigs well into winter after the acorns fall and provide forage for local wildlife. Bur oaks look best in large open spaces, like meadows, where they can grow up to 80 feet tall and wide and strike their form against a bright winter sky.