Colors of Winter

Ever wonder what you can do for the winter season? Anita Carpenter has a suggestion for you.

COLORS OF WINTER
By Anita Carpenter

In the midst of our snowy winters, bursts of color break the monotony of a white landscape. White pines, cedars, and spruce green up the northern countryside. Brownish-tan leaves of beech trees and some oaks cling to branches throughout winter. Burgundy-red stems of red osier dogwood brighten wetlands.

Our feathered friends provide fleeting flashes of color. A solitary red head spot decorates downy and hairy woodpeckers. A red head and nape identify red-bellied woodpeckers, while pileated woodpeckers display jaunty red crests.

Cardinals and red crossbills are all-over red. Flocks of redpolls, each with a bright red breast and red cap, are a delight to see. Evening grosbeaks wear yellow feathers, and blues fly by as blue jays and red- and white-breasted nuthatches appear.

Less obvious colors lie under the snow quilt. If you’re in the north woods, brush aside the insulating snow cover, and you may discover ground-hugging evergreen perennials such as wintergreen, bearberry, and trailing arbutus. Some may still bear their red or white fruits. Their adaptation to a cold climate and a short growing season is to retain their leathery leaves year-round.

One of my favorite winter reds, and always a delight to find, is a shrub with small, flaming-red berries appropriately called winterberry (Ilex verticillata). Winterberry is found in the wet soils of bogs, swampy deciduous forests, and along lakes in northern Wisconsin. It is a unique member of Wisconsin’s native flora as it is the only holly species found in the state. (Twenty other holly species grace various habitats throughout the United States.)

Although winterberry is a holly, it does not resemble the holly associated with Christmas. That holly (Ilex opaca), or American holly, has stiff, thorny, indented leaves. Winterberry’s leaves look like small, oval-shaped American elm leaves about 2 inches long with teeth along their edges (serrated edges).

The many-stemmed, 8 to 10-foot tall winterberry shrubs are nondescript and may be difficult to distinguish from other shrubs when not in fruit. Winterberry flowers in early summer. Even in bloom, they may be overlooked because the greenish-to-yellow-white flowers are so tiny.

Another interesting feature of winterberry is that the plant is dioecious, which means male and female reproductive structures are on separate plants. Male or staminate flowers grow in small bunches along the stems, whereas female or pistillate flowers grow singly or few in a cluster near the stem ends. Insects pollinate the blossoms.

The fruit-laden shrubs found in winter are female plants. Similar looking, although fruitless, male plants should be close by. The bright red fruits, botanically called drupes, mature in late autumn. Only after the leaves drop do the fruits become noticeable, which are then very obvious on a white landscape.

Dissect a drupe, and you’ll find a fleshy outer layer enclosing up to six smooth seeds called nutlets. Fruits remain on the plant until midwinter unless hungry birds find this hearty berry meal. Winterberry’s fruits are inedible for humans.

Winter isn’t complete until I’ve seen winterberry. On a stark white landscape, the bright red fruit-laden plants just “scream” to be noticed. They really can’t and shouldn’t be overlooked.