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Devil's Walking Stick 
​Aralia spinosa

Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Colourful fall foliage on statuesque plants.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Two-foot leaves are comprised of many leaflets.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden ConsultingPicture
Sharp thorns grow along their stems, hence their common names.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Blue-black drupes are held in spheres.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Tiny flowers comprise huge flower clusters.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Birds and other wildlife love the fruit.
Common Name:  Devil’s Walking Stick
Botanical Name: Aralia spinosa
Form:   upright vase, umbrella-like canopy
Family: Araliaceae
Genus: Aralia
Species: spinosa
Plant Type:  deciduous shrub or small tree
Mature Size: 10 to 25 feet x 6 to 10 feet, to 35’ if grown as a tree
Growth: slow to moderate
Origin: Missouri, United States
Hardiness Zone: 4 to 9
Foliage: green, compound, bipinnate to tripinnate, 2-5ft x 2-4ft, yellow to dull purple fall colour
Flowers: 1/8”, 5 petals, white, showy clusters 24 inches long in July to August
Fruit:  round purple-black berries in clusters that ripen in late August to October
Stems: fat, sharp spines on its leaf stalks, stems and branches, horizontal leaf scars
Exposure: full sun to part shade
Soil: prefers moist, tolerates drought, clay soils and black walnut
Uses: large borders, attracts birds & wildlife, woodland, native gardens, dear resistant
Propagation:  easily grown from seeds, suckers or root cuttings
Pruning: shorten branches in early spring or after blooming
​Problems: thorns, suckers form colonies and also spread by seeds, handling roots and bark may cause allergic skin reaction
Comments: This striking Missouri native gets its two common names, Devil’s Walking Stick and Hercules Club, from the fat, sharp spines that grow along its branches, stems and leaf stalks. Their huge 2 to 4 foot lacy leaves are comprised of many small leaflets. They are perched atop unbranched club-like stems creating an umbrella type canopy. Their unique stems are ringed with furrowed leaf scars, which are quite noticeable.
 
In summer, tiny white flowers, which are held in large panicles sprout from the top of the stems. Bees, butterflies and other pollinators just love the flowers, whilst birds and wildlife love the fruit. Their fruit are very attractive; they look like black jewels adorning pink spherical crowns.  
 
The Devil’s Walking Stick is very adaptable and is tolerant of pollution, soil and drought. Plant in a sheltered location to protect their large two-foot foliage. Since they sucker and seed themselves easily, give them lots of space. 
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Bare stems are covered in thorns with leaves atop the stems.
Aralia spinosa,Devil's Walking Stick,Missouri native plant,September plant,the garden website,hoyt arboretum,Amanda Jarrett,Amanda's Garden Consulting
Green summer foliage and black berries.

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Photos used under Creative Commons from cricketsblog, wlcutler
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?