Common ninebark is a tough native shrub of eastern and central North America, named for its bark that peels away in thin, papery layers. In late spring it bears rounded clusters of small white to pinkish flowers, followed by reddish, puffed-up seed pods. Purple- and gold-leaved cultivars such as 'Diabolo' have made it a popular landscape shrub.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Older stems shed bark in long papery strips, revealing reddish to light-brown layers underneath. It is easiest to see in winter.
- Growth form
- A deciduous shrub usually 3–10 ft (1–3 m) tall with many arching stems from the base. Dwarf cultivars stay around 2 ft (60 cm).
- Leaves
- Alternate leaves 1.5–4 in (4–10 cm) long, usually with three shallow lobes and coarse teeth. Fall color is coppery to yellow.
- Flowers
- Small white to pinkish flowers, each about 1/4–1/2 in (6–12 mm) across with five round petals and many pink-tipped stamens, packed into dome-shaped clusters 1–2 in (2.5–5 cm) wide.
- Flowering time
- Mostly May into June, sometimes into July.
- Fruit
- Drooping clusters of 3–5 inflated pods, each about 1/3 in (8 mm) long. They start greenish red to bright red, then dry brown and often hang on through winter. In Missouri they ripen August to early October.
Look-alikes
Midwestern ninebark's seed pods are covered in tiny star-shaped hairs, while common ninebark's are usually smooth, though references differ on this. The two look alike and overlap in the Midwest, so photos of the shrub alone often can't separate them; look closely at the pods.
Why they get mixed upSome botanists treat it as a variety of common ninebark, and the two overlap in the Midwest.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Stream banks
- Rocky hillsides and bluffs
- Moist thickets
- Woodland edges
- Range
- Native from Quebec and New York west to Minnesota and South Dakota, and south to Florida, Arkansas, and Kansas. It also reaches Colorado and Oklahoma.
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in full sun to part shade on rocky hillsides, river bluffs, stream banks, and moist thickets, more often at woodland edges than in deep forest. It handles clay, sand, drought, and compacted soil, and is hardy in 2–8.
- Flowering
Flowers May–Jun
Flowers May–Jun
Growing it
- Care
- Easy to grow, it's used for hedges, mass plantings, and stabilizing banks. Prune right after flowering, since next year's blooms form on old wood. It can get powdery mildew.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Botanists don't all agree about how to treat the form with hairy seed pods. Some call it var. intermedius, while others treat it as a separate species, Midwestern ninebark (Physocarpus intermedius).
- Varieties and forms
- Many cultivars are sold for foliage color, such as dark purple 'Diabolo' (also sold as 'Monlo') and gold 'Dart's Gold', along with dwarf forms.
More species to explore
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