Diablo Ninebark vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Diablo Ninebark vs Northern Black Currant

Physocarpus opulifolius Diablo

Ribes hudsonianum

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

CUSTOM GROW

Diablo Ninebark
Northern Black Currant

Diablo Ninebark is a small, low maintenance, multi-stemmed shrub, that is used to add texture or color to any yard. This plant grows dark purple leaves in the spring and grows slightly faster than Common Ninebark. It features flaky red to brown bark, clusters of white flowers, and long, maple-like leaves. Diablo Ninebark can make a dense and colorful hedge, or it can be an attractive ornamental by itself.

Northern Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub found across Canada and the northern United States. Dark purple to black berries that ripen in summer and provide food for wildlife and humans. Fragrant yellow-green flowers that attract a wide variety of pollinators.
This shrub is well adapted to moist soils and can even survive periods of flooding. It has an interesting bronze colour in fall.

Diablo Ninebark Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 3a
Height: 2.4 m (8 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: low
Maintenance: medium
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: reddish-purple
Fall colour: yellow
Bark: brown to red, exfoliating
Flowers: white
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: red
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: bitter
Harvest: mid to late summer
Seeds: inflated seed capsules
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT
Other Names: eastern ninebark, purple ninebark
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant