Cornus (dog wood varieties) cannot be matched for the stem colour.
They are lovely grouped together with a complete mix of colours including dark red, lime green and orange. I’ve been told to visit Waddesdon House Garden to see large plantings of them.
The orange sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ is a lovely addition to any garden.The autumn foliage is golden and the stems are electric orange. Its also a more compact variety than the dark red alba sibirica.
Don’t stop with cornus when looking for winter stem interest. Some of the small Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) have very colourful red stems and the prickly stems of the Rubus cockburnianus, described as a ghostly bramble, can look very dramatic in winter. We also have the orange/limey green willow (Salix alba ‘Vitellina’) probably one of our toughest shrubs or small trees.
