Ninebark Diabolo

* Common name: Ninebark ‘Diabolo’

* Botanical name: Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Monlo’

* What it is: A dense native shrub with dark burgundy leaves and quarter-sized, snowball-like clusters of pinkish-white flowers in June. Then clusters of tiny, red, BB-sized fruits develop after flowers fade followed by coppery foliage in fall and peeling cinnamon-colored bark like mini birch trees in winter. Great choice for all four seasons. Also extremely heat-, cold- and drought-hardy. Summer leaves are almost black in full sun.

* Size: Without pruning, Diabolo can grow about 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Can be kept smaller, or just buy the new down-sized variety of this: ninebark Summer Wine.

* Where to use: Makes a nice back-of-border shrub along property lines but is nice enough to serve as a specimen in a mixed island bed or perennial garden. Also fine on patio and house corners if kept neat with an annual pruning. Best in full sun to light shade.

* Care: Needs no spraying and little, if any, fertilizer. Most important care is thinning out about a third of the biggest, oldest stems to the ground at the end of each winter as the plant ages. The entire shrub also can be cut back even to within a few inches if it’s getting too gangly for you.

* Great partner: Ring or front Diabolo with three or four dwarf Virginia sweetspire Little Henry. Or surround it with any pure white flowers, which really light up with Diabolo’s dark leaves in the background.