Winter's Wonderland

Toby looks at the science behind colourful winter stems.

- Toby Buckland

ABSENCE may make the heart grow fonder, but is a lack of something necessarily a bad thing? Now the autumn leaves have fallen, a new kind of beauty offers food for the eye as the vivid winter stems of snakebark maple and dogwoods are so brilliantly bright they have the power to lift the even gloomiest December day. But have you ever wondered why they are so colourful? Perhaps not, although it’s this kind of horticultural conundrum that keeps me awake at night.