Myriad Botanical Gardens - Oklahoma City, USA

Common name: Ninebark

Family: Rosaceae (Rose Family)

Distribution: North America

Hardiness: 3a

Life form: Deciduous shrub/sub-shrub

Comments: 'Diabolo' is a purple-leaved ninebark cultivar. Like the species, it is an upright, spreading, somewhat coarse, deciduous shrub. It typically grows 4-8' tall. Small pinkish-white, five-petaled flowers in dense, flat, rounded, spirea-like clusters appear in late spring. Flowers give way to drooping clusters of reddish fruit (inflated seed capsules). Purple foliage tends to green up in hot summer climates as the summer progresses. Ninebark is named for its exfoliating bark (on mature branches) which peels in strips to reveal several layers of reddish to light brown inner bark. Bark provides winter interest but is usually hidden by the foliage during the growing season.