Taking Notice of Ninebarks
The rich leaf colour of ‘Centre Glow’ ninebark in August.
Until 1999, the only cultivated ninebark around was Physocarpus opulifolius, a large, green-leafed shrub native to North America. Then Monrovia introduced Diabolo® Ninebark, the first purple-leafed ninebark to hit the marketplace. Diabolo proved a game changer. Since its introduction, plant breeders have been busy developing new cultivars that vary in leaf colour and plant size/shape.
Ninebarks are long-lived, fast-growing deciduous shrubs with attractive peeling bark on the mature branches. Their most valued feature is the foliage, which through today’s hybridization runs the gamut through shades of purple, yellow, green, red and orange, often changing hues from spring through fall. Blooming occurs in spring, offering tidy clusters of small, flat, densely packed 5-petal flowers. Fruits follow immediately, looking like flat, inflated capsules. These capsules start out a deep glossy red and gradually fade to tan, providing additional visual interest in winter — if the birds don’t eat them first.
The bright chartreuse of ‘Dart’s Gold’ ninebark in August, shown next to a lacecap hydrangea. The leaves are often tinged with orange.
The bright chartreuse of ‘Dart’s Gold’ ninebark in August, shown next to a lacecap hydrangea. The leaves are often tinged with orange.
I became a fan about 15 years ago, when I got a ‘Coppertina’ ninebark. I loved how the foliage changed from copper in spring to burgundy in summer to red in the fall and found that it made a stunning addition to otherwise lacklustre flower arrangements. This vase-shaped variety typically grows 6’–8’ tall and wide but can easily be kept smaller.
I have since acquired three more ninebarks: • ‘Dart’s Gold’ — 5’ tall x 5’ wide, with foliage that starts out golden yellow and changes to chartreuse in the summer and orange in the fall. • ‘Amber Jubilee’ — 5’–7’ tall x 4’ wide, with leaves emerging orange-red before turning a multi-hued lime green for the summer and then a deep purple in the fall. • ‘Centre Glow’ — 6’–8’ tall x 6’–8’ wide, with rich burgundy foliage that starts out red with a gold centre and turns scarlet in the fall.
Clusters of pink flower buds adorn the branches of ‘Centre Glow’ ninebark in early June.
Ninebarks are robust and easy to grow. They add wonderful colour and texture to the landscape, and dwarf cultivars are suitable for containers. In our climate, where they are fully hardy, the red varieties prefer full sun, while the yellow varieties do best with a bit of afternoon shade. All are happy in average, well-drained soil and, once established, are drought tolerant. Ninebarks also respond well to pruning, be it a post-flowering shaping or a total rejuvenation cutback. Propagation is easy, too, by seed, root division or cuttings. As for deer resistance, I can’t say. My ninebarks live behind fences because a friend told me long ago that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom, her varieties had been heavily browsed.
Dare I take a chance and get another cultivar???