Ninebark or Physocarpus are deciduous shrubs that are easy to grow. There are several varieties, diablo and summer wine being two of them. This native shrub prefers full sun to part shade and grows in the wild from east coast to Manitoba. Most shrubs are purchased from garden centres.
This ornamental shrub was planted in 2010 and is doing really well. It blooms early to mid summer. If you need to prune this one do it in late fall or wait till well after the blooms have finished.
This is Diablo with the dark plum leaves and pink blooms. Some times the bark peels off the curving branches.
The shrub attracts bees, wasps, ladybugs, butterflies and last year I saw larvae of Harmonia axyridis … multi coloured Asian lady beetle.
Here it is in caterpillar form.
The bloom cluster is partly open.
I’ll have to watch more carefully this year and see if any seed heads develop as I’ve read you can collect the seeds in late fall and plant them in early spring. I don’t think I’m likely to grow a new shrub from seed but I just want to see what the seeds look like so I can add it to my database.
ABC Wednesday letter of the week is N. N for Ninebark.
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