COLOURED TWIGS 169 



months. In the great majority of plants the new twigs show an in- 

 teresting colour for perhaps part of the year, usually during the early 

 spring months when the sap begins to flow. Later the colour becomes 

 softened or deadened and it does not carry through to the late fall and 

 winter. There are practically no shrubs which can be selected for the ; 

 colour of their twigs during the summer months. It is not necessary 

 to select plants for this purpose because there are so many other 

 equally interesting effects to be obtained from flowers and foliage. 



The first two years' growth, especially the first year's growth on any 

 tree or shrub, the twigs of which have a definite colour, is much 

 brighter than the colour of the twigs after they are more than two 

 years old and are becoming definite branches of the plant. This is a 

 suggestion that severe pruning, or cutting back, will often enhance the 

 effect, as in the case of the red-twigged dogwood. 



Twigs are also extremely interesting because of the markings. The 

 tamarix and silky dogwood are types to study in detail as well as being 

 valuable for the mass colour effect seen at a distance. 



Colour effects of twigs form the most interesting feature of land- 

 scape twig effects, and yet the coverings of older branches and tree 

 trunks on many trees are very effective in summer and winter. Every 

 tree has its individual markings of trunk and branches, of great in- 

 terest to the landscape student. The white oak, white birch, plane 

 tree, and hackberry, with their peculiar bark, are valuable in landscape 

 planting. 



LIST OF TREES AND SHRUBS BEARING COLOURED TWIGS 



This list consists of types of plants which are extremely interesting 

 because of the colour effect of their twigs. A memorandum is indi- 

 cated opposite each type showing the special colour effect which is 

 produced if the twigs are less than two years old. As twigs grow older 

 the colour of the bark becomes more neutral, and consequently these 

 plants should be frequently pruned in order to produce new growth 

 with its more vivid colour effects. 



Acer pennsylvanicum — striped green — Betula populifolia — white bark 



white branches American White Birch 



btnped Maple 



Betula nigra-reddkh brown bark Co ™" s ^— Wood-red branches 



Red Birch Red-twigged Dogwood 



Betula papyri/era — white bark Cornus alba sibirica — coral-red branches 



Paper Birch Siberian Dogwood 



