The mildew people from back there have been griping about on the internet for awhile is starting to show up in my area. Or another kind - at any rate you end up with whitened, deformed shoots here and there.

Not the most pleasant feature, particularly on a purple plant.

I don't have much experience with Ninebarks (recently planted one in the back yard), but I understand that they can be pruned to shape on a yearly basis if necessary.

Jim

You can coppice them each year and they'll stay smallish, but a shame to do this to a shrub with the kind of bark that a Physocarpus has! I grow most of mine as small, multi-trunked trees.

Never seen mildew on them here, but that has no relevance for Zone 6 NY.

Sara

I have the dwarf Ninebark. I think it's Little Devil but I'll check the tags tomorrow when I post pics or you. It could be Tiny Wine. I love it. It's beautiful. I planted it last summer along with 2 Summer Wine's in various spots in the yard. The color on both varieties are similar and beautiful. The dwarf plant though has taken off and is already chin high (I'm 5' 5"). I have it right next to a Little Lime hydrangea and they are growing exactly at the same rate. Thy look great together but they are both not so "dwarf".
I'll post a pic later when I have access to my pics.

Here's some pics....
{{gwi:274159}}
{{gwi:274161}}

thanks. It's a beautiful combination - the limelight and little devil. i was afraid that it wouldn't be so dwarf (as you said). i may go for it, Can't really beat the color - and as suggested above, i'll prune it down if necesssary.
thanks!!

Deer love my normal Ninebark and it's still in a pot. I'm having a hard time placing it where the deer don't get at it. Deer are usually not much of a problem with the rest of the garden.
Mike

Yes, a Diabolo = 'Monlo' I planted on Camano Island (w WA, USDA 8) proved to be hopeless due to deer access. It was in amongst other, taller trees and shrubs, too, and not out on a lawn - where they couldn't miss it.

The bark doesn't excel to me - various other shrubs produce a similar appearance - but the fresh, reddish fruit clusters can be striking - and the white flowers may sometimes stand out against the purplish leaves. So I wouldn't want to prune the flowering wood away anyway. I also like it a lot better when the shrubs fill in and begin to develop a fountain shape - something that won't happen if you keep cutting them down, so that all the shoots present are young, vertical and spaced out.

Can't understand how you can say that about the bark - once the trunks get some girth on them the bark is stunning. I haven't seen anything else that is quite the same.

Just goes to show how deer vary depending on area. I live in the middle of the woods. I've counted 18 deer in my yard at one time. Even though I use Liquid Fence on my flowers, I haven't used it on my Ninebarks and the deer haven't touched them. I hope I didn't just jinx myself by writing this.

They're attracted to novelty - including native plants that don't happen to be encountered by those particular deer elsewhere, would otherwise be passed by.

would you please give us the link or the name of the youtube video? And Id like to see a photo of your pruned ninebark, if you have a minute to take one.

Thanks,

Marie

The hydrangea next to my Little Devil is actually a Little Lime and not a Limelight.

Little Devil has kept a nice shape. I wouldn't worry about coppicing too low with the paniculata hydrangeas. I have many that I cut to about 12 inches and they always come back just fine.

Can anyone compare Little Devil and Tiny Wine ? At the nursery the Little Devil seemed to have darker leaves but not sure. Thanks

Sara Malone, I know this is an old post but wonder if you still have your Ninebark and if so what kind is it and do you have a picture of it you can post? Like the idea of the small multi-trunk tree. I'm considering a Tiny Wine and would love to see it as a little tree. How do you shape it? Thanks

I do still have two that I pruned into tree shape. Because I waited too long to do this, I was not as successful as I might have been. One is downright odd; it has two trunks, with one going off at a peculiar angle. I am considering eliminating that trunk. The other is a single trunked small tree and looks very nice. I have to do a bit of sucker removal in spring, but they break right off and don't regrow to any real degree during summer. I also do a bit of tip-pruning but for the most part they don't require much maintenance at all. I'll see if I can remember to take photos and post for you.

This is not a very good photo but the tree is about 6' tall and the trunk about 2" across. i think that it will look way better in a couple of years.

Well I tried three times to upload the photo and it didn't work. I'll try again later. This site is archaic.

Sara, I think many folks have difficulties uploading here, though it's less difficult than pre-Houzz days if it works. Here's help for troubleshooting/work-arounds that various folks have mentioned for photo uploads:

Sometimes with a slow connection with a slower upload speed, it can take minutes to upload a photo, but you will see it appear in the typing box before you click Submit if you've been successful.

Sometimes you want to try a different browser since GW doesn't work well with all versions of Explorer.

Some folks find that if they upload to Houzz photo (Go to Your Houzz in the upper right of every page and click on upload photos or files) they can then use the Houzz Photo option to put it in a thread.

I have a commercial Internet connection and I"m trying to upload a JPEG. Should be a no-brainer. This is really idiotic and one of the reasons that the hated Facebook in popular. All you have to do there is drag it in.

Contact the GW powers to be to complain. The only way it will get fixed is if enough folks create a stink.

gardenweb@houzz.com