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And most want sun, although vine maple, katsura, paperbark maple and ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’ dogwood don’t mind some shade.

Ticking off the seasons, Libner shares how the witch hazel blooms “fragrantly and flagrantly” in January, an Italian prune fruits in summer and a paperbark maple with cinnamon exfoliating bark is “gorgeous in every season.”

In Portland, Ore., Warren said, the paperbark maple — a plant once just known by connoisseurs — is used as a street tree.

The chestnut-brown peeling foliage of the paperbark maple, Acer griseum, is attractive throughout the year but especially so when backlit by low light in the winter garden; creamy white samaras, or winged seed structures, further add to its charms.

I saved one of my favorite maples for last, and that is the paperbark maple, which asks to be both looked at and touched.