Diabolo or Diablo Ninebark or Eastern Ninebark                fi-so-KAR-pus op-u-li-FO-li-us

• Deciduous shrub, upright, 10 × 10 ft (3 × 3 m).  Leaves purplish-red during much of the growing season, but reportedly becomes dark green in areas with hot summers.  White flowers and reddish fruit.
• Sun, to maximize purple color of leaves.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 2
• This selection was discovered in June 1968 in a field of 120,000 seedlings of Physocarpus opulifolius.  The discovery was based on the unique red foliage of this particular seedling in the large field planting of typically green foliaged plants in Ellerbek, Schleswig-Holstein, near Hamburg in Germany.  This distinct selection was given the cultivar name ‘Monlo’ in the patent application.    The trademark name of ‘Monlo’ is Diabolo®, which is now owned by Monrovia Nursery.  However, the name often seen in nursery commerce is Diablo, usually, but incorrectly, as the cultivar name, i.e., ‘Diablo’ (note the single quotes which specify the cultivar name).  According to Monrovia's Brian Jacobs, his company inherited the name Diabolo® from the originator of the plant, Kordes Nursery in Germany.  The word diabolo is derived from the Latin, diabolus, and Greek, diabollos, words for devil, not the Spanish diablo.