Looks like it's yet another novelty from Proven Winners.

https://www.provenwinners.com/plants/diervilla/kodiak-red-diervilla-sp

With the involved Plant Patent having been applied for only 5 years ago. With the point being there will be no fellow consumers that have any long term experience.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=PP28403.PN.&OS=PN/PP28403&RS=PN/PP28403

A somewhat different shrub, I planted Diervilla Cool Splash in a client's garden 4 years ago and the plants have thrived! They were planted more for size, shape and foliage effect than they were for the flowers but they are an added bonus.

In my climate, this shrub retains its foliage very late into fall.......November or December. And the deer ignore it. Win, win, win!!!!

Wow that was fast lol! Thanks for the input. You actually reminded me that in the original post I tried to send, I had that exact first link in there for people to see!

Well, looks like as you said I won't get a lot of input, since this is such a new plant. Maybe I'll take a shot and try one and see how it goes.

Thank you!
:)
Dee

I have a diervilla that does well in my yard, but can't comment on the specific conditions yiou are asking about.

Michauxia, can you tell me what the conditions are in YOUR garden? That will give me some idea of what you have and how it might compare. Thank you!

:)
Dee

Diervilla is an American native, but this species of Diervilla, D. splendens, is the southern species, while D. Lonicera is the species native to New England. I have Diervilla lonicera growing wild here, and I think they are relatively similar in growth style and habitat preferences. It is happy at the top of roadside slopes and on thin soil over ledge, but typically chooses to grow in at least half shade. It has small clusters of yellow flowers that are nice but not particularly eye-catching.

i think you will find this to be a fairly low key shrub visually except perhaps during autumn color.

Just planted seven Cool Splash Diervilla today after I found them for 1/2 off at Lowe's. I'm hoping the mass of variegated foliage will brighten up a semishady area. Anything deer resistant is worth a try for me.

I just saw a few potfuls of this at the nursery. They looked great!

Cool Splash is one of the few plants here which the rabbits just won't leave alone. Not a problem in the summer, but if I don't fence them for the winter they get decimated.

Thank you both for that information. Bfox I looked up Cool Splash and it is beautiful. I'm such a sucker for variegated foliage.

Thanks Babs, that is encouraging info. I hope there might be enough shade in this spot to keep it happy. I usually prefer natives, but two questions please. Does the D. lonicera sucker easily? I seem to understand that the Kodiak does not sucker as easily as the native. (I'm not confusing this with L. japonica, but from what I've read D. lonicera does sucker, so wondering how aggressively.) Also, does the D. lonicera have autumn color?

At this point the most important thing is not necessarily how nice the shrub looks as that it survives and thrives lol. Just need some privacy from the neighbors! But obviously if I can get something that will succeed in this spot AND have some interest (whether it be bloom, foliage, winter interest, etc) I'll go for that.

Thank you all for your input!

:)
Dee

Kodiak red is a cultivar of Diervilla x splendens, which is D. lonicera x D. sessilifolia. I/2 the northern species, and 1/2 the southern species. I've been growing Diervilla lonicera for 2 years and they have already started to sucker.

I have had D. Kodiak Orange and Kodiak Black for several years. They do well, but the deer do nibble them. No suckering.

Kodiak black is a variety of D. rivularis. They say it's hardy to zone 5, but it naturally only occurs in zones 7 and 8. Maybe if they give D. lonicera a fancy name like Kodiak Green, a bunch more people will start buying it? 🙄🤣

I had "Cool Splash" diervilla at my other house in dry soil and it fared poorly. Same story at this house -- I gave them away, and last I heard they were thriving in their new location. So -- I'd say dry soil is a no-go.

Jay -- I hate that big boxes have "garden centers". Just hate it. They have homogenized the home landscape of America.

kato, sorry, your post above never showed up when I answered above, so I wasn't ignoring you! Thanks for that info. I don't have problems with rabbits (knock on wood) which is surprising since one year I found a nest of babies in my veggie garden of all places. They were so little we didn't even know what they were at first!. I thought I was doomed (thoughts of Farmer MacGregor going through my mind) but they must have all left for literally greener pastures lol, and so far so good.

The Cool Splash won't work for what I need in this instance, although I may well try one elsewhere because, well, variegated foliage lol.

I really don't want to deal with suckering (I'll be fighting that sassafras forever as it is), so I think I may try one of the Kodiaks, although thinking now of Orange instead of Red. I do usually prefer natives, and have a lot of them, but will try a Kodiak and see how it does, and then perhaps add more or add other shrubs that might work.

mxk can I add that this season, due to the covid situation, we didn't go out to the nursery till mid-June, which I knew would be difficult due to all the reading I'd done about the sudden increase in garden activities. They were wiped out of most things, so we headed to a few big-box stores, which I don't like to patronize to begin with for anything, always trying to go to the smaller, local places. I can't tell you not only how unsurprisingly disappointed I was with the same-old, same-old selection, but also how guilty I felt shopping there lol! I usually don't feel all THAT guilty shopping there, but for plants it's a different story for some reason lol.

Thank you all so very much for your prompt input. It has really helped me!

:)
Dee

My diervilla which is probably Kodiak Black, is growing in full sun in sandy soil at the top of a very small slope.

Awesome, Michauxia, thank you!! Any suckering issues with yours?

:)
Dee

I have a "Kodiak Orange" in all-day sun in mostly clay loam and it's doing just fine. It has gotten browsed by deer a few times, but without any serious damage.

Even though the 'Kodiak' series seems to be comprised mostly of hybrids, I have seen the straight species D. lonicera used quite widely around my area in dry shade situations, so it seems that the genus is pretty adaptable to varied conditions.

Dee, the question about suckering is an interesting one. I bought this a few years ago as a relatively small starter shrub. Until you asked the question, I had just assumed that this shrub was just growing up and out into its full potential. I just went out and knelt down to see that in fact, it has suckered just as I just read on the Missouri Botantical Garden Site.

Dee, take a look at Diervilla Firefly Nightglow. I planted one in the spring of 2019 and was so impressed I planted two more this spring. It's another fairly new introduction but I've had two droughty summers in a row here and the plants have thrived. I watered the new plants regularly earlier in the season but have not watered the established plant. Cool Splash has also done well for me, both in my current garden and in my former garden. All are growing in mostly sun and not the greatest soil.

Michauxia and Sue, thanks so much! I do think I am going to try this shrub. Now I just have to decide which color I want! Ugh, decisions, decisions....

Thanks everyone!
:)
Dee

I live in a Minneapolis suburb (zone 4b). Will one of the Diervilla species work for me? I'd like to plant along a south facing woodland edge at the top of a slope. The soil is dry and mix of sun and shade due to slope and tree canopy coverage. I have some boxwoods but looking for more variety to look more naturalized. Whatever I plant needs to be deer resistant, as we have a herd of them that roam the woods.

Last year, I was looking for a green and white leafed shrub for a friend's garden. She has a lot of fairly dry partial shade. I saw Cool Splash diervilla at places like Lowe's and Home Depot, but I wasn't familiar with it. I was torn,  but decided on Ivory Halo red twig dogwood instead. Unfortunately, the Ivory Halos have not done as well as I hoped, and I think we will have to move them somewhere else. I suspect they want more water than they were getting where they are. Anyway, this year I'm searching all over for Cool Splash Diervilla as a substitute, and I can't find them anywhere! What is going on?

@Eileen Lundberg, i have the northern species, Diervilla lonicera growing wild in my woods, including at thee top of a wooded river bank that gets western sun. My area gets down to -23 every few years, so that species should survive for you. I don’t know about the hydrids or the other species, but it might be worth trying with one plant to see how it fares.

As far as deer resistance, they do sucker, and I have deer and they survive, but there is no guarantee as far as what hungry deer will eat. Either a spray of deer deterent late fall or fencing until it establishes might be in order.