Guide

Go seePlants

Red-osier and silky dogwood: colored stems after leaf fall

November to March

Once their leaves drop, red-osier dogwood and silky dogwood show colored stems in thickets along ponds, streams and wet meadows. Red-osier runs red to red-purple, while silky dogwood leans dark reddish-purple.

Why this time of year

With the leaves gone, the shrubs' bare stems stand out against brown marsh grass and later against snow. The new growth carries the strongest color.

How to notice it

  1. From a path or the shore, scan the edge of a pond, stream or wet meadow for a dense thicket of bare stems, often taller than an adult, with a red or purple cast.
  2. Compare the youngest stems at the tips with the thicker stems lower down. The young shoots carry the brightest color.
  3. Sort them by tone: clear red to red-purple points to red-osier dogwood, dark reddish-purple with fine hairs on the new twigs points to silky dogwood.
  4. On a bush you are allowed to touch, snap the tip of a thin living twig. If the pith in the middle is dark brown, it is likely silky dogwood; red-osier pith is white.

Try this with kids: Stay on the path and find the reddest bush at the water's edge. Is it more fire-engine red or more grape purple?

Word to know: “Pith”: the soft spongy core in the center of a twig.

Safety

  • Look at wetland thickets from the shore or a boardwalk. Do not walk out onto frozen ponds, streams or marshes to reach them.

Sources

  • gobotany.nativeplanttrust.orgGo Botany: red-osier native in MA, S4; 'easy to spot in wetlands in winter, with its red stems'; branchlets red to red-purple; dense thickets in fens, meadows, shores, swamps.
  • gobotany.nativeplanttrust.orgGo Botany: silky dogwood native in MA, S5; new twigs reddish; winter twig colors brown, gray, purple, red; snap a twig and the pith is dark brown; meadows, shores, swamps.
  • plants.ces.ncsu.eduNC State: silky dogwood young twigs greenish-purple to dark reddish-purple; pith brown in older stems; swamp borders and streams.
  • plants.ces.ncsu.eduNC State: red-osier showy red stems for winter interest; brightest color on new growth; wetland margins.
  • pubs.ext.vt.eduVirginia Cooperative Extension: stems turn bright red to dark red in winter, green in growing season; most pronounced on young stems.
  • yardandgarden.extension.iastate.eduIowa State: bright red twigs of redosier dogwood; young shoots brightest.
  • extension.usu.eduUtah State: bark purple-red late summer, red winter, green spring; twigs bright to dark red.

Checked against these sources on October 16, 2026.

In the guide for November, December, January, February, March

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