I have two of the cultivar 'Diablo'. My yard is not exactly full sun and they are greener than most that I have seen. Mine have never bloomed since I bought them (in bud, 2 years ago). They look better up in the mountains than they do here around Raleigh, but I have seen them in just about every display garden.

I have a couple of ninebark..diablo and also summer wine, not much experience with them though since I just planted them this past winter. So far the foliage has remained dark. There are a couple of purple foliage sambucus, black lace and also black beauty that are very cool. The Bishop series of dahlia are quite lovely, the bright flowers are a lovely contrast to the purple foliage. In my gardens I also have purple pineapple lily eucomis 'sparkling burgandy' there is also an 'octopus' that is kind of a speckled color with ripply leaves that is very cool. I have them planted next to purple leaved lysimachia 'firecracker' (there is also a lysimachia purpurea). We also recently got in a purple leaved crinum 'sangria' that is really gorgeous. Anthiriscus sylvestris 'ravenswing' (black chervil) is another one. Eupatorium 'chocolate' is another one of my favorites. Oh and there are some gorgeous euphorbias 'chameleon' is one that would look fantastic mixed in with the rest. Cimicifuga 'black beauty' is a really nice one but that is for shade. Angelica gigas also has burgandy foliage. That is all I can think of now. Adele

I had the 'Diablo' at a previous house and it was deer food. They loved it, so I never go to enjoy it.

Cameron

I didn't think to check Dirr's manual before posting this thread. He confirms what I suspected that 'Diablo' does not retain its color in southern heat. I'm always suspicious of plants listed with zone 7 as the high zone number.

Adele, thanks for your suggestions! I hadn't even thought about dahlias. I've always wanted to try them but had the impression that they weren't easy to grow. Do voles like them? I think I'm going to try the Euphorbia 'Notholowee' as well.

I just checked and its Euphorbia 'Nothowlee'. Funny name. I knew I should have just said Blackbird spurge.LOL

I also forgot about the red castor beans. I have some seeds so I may poke a few of those today and see how fast I can get them going.

How about smoketree? I will be old (er) before mine is more than a medium tall shrub. I have 'Velvet Cloak', and it is great color, even in dappled shade. I also like a small purple leaf plum, but so do the deer. How tall. Really one of my favorites is 'Albury Purple' Hypericum. It is totally unlike blah green stuff. Mine grew to 18" shrubs 1st year from winter sow.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Albury Purple' Hypericum

Brenda, I picked up one of your 'Albury Purple' seedlings at the swap. That's what got me thinking I needed one more burgandy foliage plant to balance it and a mature 'Rose Glow' barberry that's in the same large island bed. I had wondered if the Cotinus would do as well here as in the photos I've seen. I need something in the 5 ft or taller range since it will be towards the rear of the bed among tall perennials.

Shari, I think Dirr's book is wrong on this one, as my Diablo actually gets darker the hotter it gets. The new foliage unfolds somewhat green and then quickly turns deep burgandy brown. Mine is at the northeast corner of the house and blooms beautifully. I also love it for it's peeling bark in the winter and cool seed pods. It takes pruning well but I like the arching form so I just prune individual branches out to the base to shape it and limb it up so I can underplant. It gets pretty tall, mine is probably about 6 or 7 years in its spot and is about 9 feet tall. I've also got Summer Wine but it's not nearly as vigorous. Could be the location.

Thanks, Karen! I had really hoped it would do here. Not sure it'll like my southern exposure(and sandy soil) but I may still give it a shot.

BTW I just got an 'Elise' from Richard Dufresne last week. I hope I can make it happy.

This has been an interesting thread and quite timely for me. I picked up a ninebark along with several other shrubs from one of the vendors at the Raleigh Farmers Market about 2 weeks ago and was wondering where to plant it and how big it would get. I just liked the foilage and since all Farmers Market plants are locally grown I figured it must be good for this area. Not too happy to hear it can be deer food. I swear everything I plant out back the deer LOVE - grrrr......

Lynne

I have lots of hypericum 'Albury Purple' and a purple smoke tree -- no deer problems, nice foliage in the season. Favorites.

We have burgundy lorepetulum, but the deer pick at those and that frost completely defoliated those. They are now leafing back out and beautiful again.

Cameron

lynnencfan - though they like to claim "all Farmers Market plants are locally grown" that ain't necessarily so. Same with their produce. I predict we will see peaches for sale out there even though they've all gone on record saying they lost this years crop due to the Easter freeze... hmmm, wonder how they get by with that? Not that I am anti-local farmer or anti-farmer's market, but I believe that the truth is all that really matters. If farmers markets only sold locally grown produce and if it was only sold by the people that grew it they would all suffer. The only market I know of that truly is "local only" is the Carrboro market.

interesting- because talk to the vendors at the market and you'll hear a lot of sniping about that issue. there's some talk of allowing the 'local' vendors to sell imported peaches and apples this year because of the freeze. i think for the most part they do keep it local, but i know i've seen stuff out of season sold in the local portion (the standard reply is greenhouse grown, but i'm suspicious). they do police it, and with the jealousy issues, it's probably less frequent than it seems. the ones in the retail and bulk buildings don't have any such rules. i'm not sure if the plant vendors are under any local guarantee or not. i know that most of them are from the general area and many have retail nurseries at their home sites.

Shari, I still can't quite believe my salvia is 'out there'. I hope you like it.

Not to hijack the ninebark thread but - I know people who's job it is to know all the commercial farmers within the state growing certain crops. And when you walk around the farmers market with them you hear some pretty upsetting stories (not criminal, just not truthful advertising). Like they will see a vendor representing a certain farm, and they will notice a certain fruit being sold at that stall. Then they turn to me and explain how they've been working with that very farm over a disease issue and they know for a fact that that farm's entire acreage in that crop had to be destroyed due to the disease. So where were they getting the fruit they are now selling? They either buy from another local farm, or they bring it in from another state. There are loopholes that allow them to call it home grown if they possess it for so many days before they sell it. But the wording is designed to deceive the customer into thinking that they grew it themselves. Not that all of this is bad - if they didn't have these hidden loopholes they would not be able to sell year round at the farmers market. Most of the time things are grown by the people you hand your money over to, but sometimes that person has absolutely nothing to do with the farm they represent, they are just hired help pretending to be farmers. Some markets have very strict rules where the only person that can sell a product is the person that grew it. As I understand it the state market has such rules but so many of the vendors have been selling there for so long that plenty under the table favors have been granted.

One of the biggest selling items at most farmers markets is home made cinnamon rolls - how healthy is that!