The predominate colors of the winter landscape in Iowa are white and various shades of gray and brown. An excellent way to awaken the dead of winter is to plant trees and shrubs that possess colorful fruit. Winter Gold' and 'Harvest Gold' have striking yellow fruit. Hawthorns are another group of small, flowering trees that possess attractive fruit.
Hawthorns produce white flowers in spring.
In fall, the fruit turn red and persist into winter. The shrub grows 8 to 12 feet tall and produces white, flat-topped clusters of flowers in spring. The fruit turn a bright red in fall. A plant often associated with the Christmas season is holly. Unfortunately, most hollies are not reliably hardy in Iowa.