Among the ornamental trees and shrubs, there are not so many that differ at the same time with beautiful flowering and unusually colored foliage. Thunberg barberry belongs to this particular group of plants.

Barberry of Thunberg - description and popular varieties

In nature, Thunberg's barberry reaches a height of 2.5 m. In culture, its height is rarely more than 1 m. Its shoots are arched, ribbed, young twigs are red-orange, sometimes bright red, growing up, darken and turn brown or dark brown. In diameter, the shrub can have up to 1.5 m. The peculiarity of the plant is elastic thin spines almost 1 cm long.

The reddish buds have an ovoid shape, their length is on average 0.5 cm. The leaves have a rhombic-oval shape and a rather thick petiole: its length is about 3 cm and its width is up to 1 cm. From the inside, the leaves are bluish, their front side - bright green. In the fall, they turn red or yellow.

At the time of flowering, and it happens in late May or early June, Thunberg barberry is especially decorative. Short brushes carrying from 2 to 5 flowers, painted in saturated yellow, hang like earrings. In place of fairly large flowers - up to 1 cm in diameter, elongated fruits appear, already in September or October they are painted in an elegant coral red color.They can hang on bushes all winter if they are not eaten by birds. Berries are not suitable for humans - too bitter due to the high content of alkaloids.

More than 50 decorative varieties of Thunberg barberry have been created on the basis of the natural form.

Erecta (Erecta)

It grows in a small, elegant bush, with medium-sized leaves of light green color. At a young age, the plants have a narrow oval crown shape; in older bushes, the branches are slightly spread out to the sides. Erect blooms very profusely with light yellow flowers. Autumn foliage turns purple.

Admiration

This miniature bush does not grow above 40 cm, has a dense spherical crown, which becomes cushioned with age due to growth in width. To achieve this effect, you will have to trim some sticking branches. Miniature leaves, so reminiscent of boxwood - the main decoration of the Admiration. Their color varies depending on the planting site, but remains bright - beetroot, bright red or brown. Each leaf has a golden border. In the fall, the color of the leaves is even brighter.

Coronita

Plants of this variety reach a height of up to 1.5 m, which is quite high for barberry. Elongated branches form a narrow crown with a diameter of only 1 m. The bush grows quickly. Its leaves are large, rounded, painted green, in the fall they turn bright orange. The peculiarity of the variety is large spines, painted in a bright pink color, which has a cream shade.

Harlequin

The variety is named for the unusual variegation of leaves. Their red main background is diluted with stains and spots of pink, white, gray. The shrub has a height of approximately 1.3 m and an oval crown. It is inclined to freeze in severe winters, it is necessary to cover it annually. This disadvantage is offset by good summer growth - from 10 to 15 cm per season.

Rose Glow

High barberry - about 1.7 m spiky straight shoots form an ovoid crown. The color of the young and old foliage is different. The growing leaves have a bright purple color, diluted with marble bronze-red and pink-gray stains. In adult leaves, they brighten to dark pink or red-purple, and stains turn into grayish spots and splashes. When planted in the sun, the color of the leaves is brighter. For the winter it needs to be covered.

Golden Rocket

High shrub - up to 1.5 m, the rigid vertical shoots of which are completely averse to spreading. Therefore, its crown diameter is only 0.5 m. It gives a small increase. Rounded leaves are yellow-green; they contrast well with the reddish shoots. Flowering is unremarkable. When the berries ripen, the shrub is very decorative. Needs to be planted in the sun, otherwise the yellow shade of the foliage is lost.

Orange Dream (Orange Dream)

Dwarf bushes do not grow above 60 cm and grow very slowly. The peculiarity is its atypical shape of the leaves: they are two times narrower and shorter than other red-leaved forms. Their color is uniform, and the color is bright orange. In autumn, he appears a crimson-red hue.

Dart’s Red Lady

The sprawling shrub has a crown diameter of 1.5 m, it exceeds its height by 0.5 m. Small shiny leaves have a dark purple color, while the shoots are pinkish. If the autumn is sunny, all the leaves will turn bright red. In yellow flowers, the outer side of the petals with a reddish tint. In winter, unripe shoot tips can freeze.

Red Chef

This is a giant among barberries. Both in height and in width it is more than 2.5 m. The red chef widely spreads its branches of red-brown color. Young they are bright purple, as well as young leaves. In adults, the color is dark red, they are narrower than in other varieties of barberry. Belongs to thermophilic grades.

Aurea

The crown of the shrub is round, its height is 0.8 m. The color of the shoots is yellowish-green, and the leaves are yellow, sometimes with a lemon tint. It is best manifested in good lighting.Autumn foliage becomes yellowish-orange. Flowers have a diameter of 1 cm, their outer color is reddish. It has the ability to freeze slightly, the first three years of life must be covered.

Green Carpet

Semi-evergreen highly spreading shrub. Its height is about 1 m, and the crown is 2 times wider and has a pillow-shaped shape. The leaves are small, light green in color, in the fall they are colored with all shades of red and orange. Flowers are located along the entire length of the shoot in tassels up to 5 pieces. The outer side of the petals is reddish. Freezing shoots are observed in frosty winters.

Bagatelle

This dwarf bush has a height of only 40 cm. A very dense crown of a flat spherical shape. Small leaves have a dark red color in the summer, in bright light they are almost black-brown. Autumn foliage is bright red. Growing slowly. It is not hardy, you need to cover annually.

Smaragd

The crown of this variety of barberry is widely pyramidal with a height of about 2 m. There are many thorns on the shoots. The color of medium-sized leaves is saturated green, and in the fall yellow and red. Shelter only young plants.

Orange Rocket

The variety is similar to Golden Rocket. It differs in smaller growth - about 1.2 m and the color of foliage. In young growths, it is yellow-orange, and in adults, it is red-purple. In autumn, the entire shrub turns red.

Golden Ring

Shrub with a round crown grows up to one and a half meters. Egg-shaped leaves are painted in dark purple and tinted with salad rim. In autumn, the color of the foliage is red. It requires shelter in the winter.

Maria

The shrub grows slowly and in adulthood does not exceed one and a half meters. The crown has the shape of a column. It consists of many shoots; at a young age they are pink-orange. The color of rather large leaves is yellow-gold with a carmine-pink border at the edges. In the fall, they acquire a bright orange-red color.

Golden Carpet (Golden Carpet)

It is slightly lower and slightly narrower than Green Carpet. Small leaves are painted in bright yellow color, in the fall they turn orange. The variety is winter-hardy.

Bonanza Gold

This dwarf variety has a bush no higher than 50 cm with a crown diameter of 70 cm. The leaves are painted in lemon-golden color, they can fade in the sun. In winter, shoots located above the snow cover freeze over him.

Atropurpurea Nana

The crown of the variety is flat-round with a diameter of about 1 m, and its height does not exceed 0.6 m. In summer, the leaves have a dark purple color, in the fall - scarlet red. The outer part of the petals of the flower is red.

Barberis Thunberg: Landing in the open

Barberry is planted in well-lit places, it is desirable that they be protected from cold winds, especially with low frost resistance.

In poor lighting conditions, the saturated multi-colored color of the leaves of barberry fades, and in some varieties it may completely get lost and turn into green.

Barberry is an unpretentious shrub. In nature, it grows on poor soils, in a culture the greatest decorativeness can be achieved on fertile soils.

They must meet the following requirements:

  • have a neutral reaction;
  • to be light in mechanical composition;
  • without stagnation of water.

The best time for planting barberry is spring, the time before buds open. Sometimes the bush is planted in the fall, after leaf fall.

For this, plants with a superficial root system do not dig deep holes: from 30 to 50 cm deep, depending on the age of the seedling. Humus, halls and 100 g of superphosphate should be added to the landing hole. When planting, the bushes are well watered and mulch the soil.

How to care for a decorative shrub

Caring for a plant is not difficult, as it is surprisingly unpretentious. Watering barberry is needed only after planting and in very hot weather. If the soil is not mulled, it must be loosened, but not deep, so as not to damage the roots.

Feed plants begin from 2 years of life in a permanent place.

Do this 3 times during the growing season:

  • in the spring - with nitrogen fertilizers (20 g of urea is bred for 10 liters of water);
  • before flowering, complex mineral fertilizer will be required;
  • in the first decade of autumn, each bush needs 10 g of potassium salt and 15 g of superphosphate.

Pruning barberries is an unsafe event, care must be taken not to get pricked with thorns. In undersized varieties, only frozen and diseased twigs are cut, the rest are formed in accordance with the requirements of the variety. Especially radical pruning is done for hedges.

All young barberry bushes for the winter are covered with spruce branches or dry foliage. Growing plants need shelter if their frost resistance is weak.

Breeding of Barberry Thunberg

Thunberg barberry shrub is easy to propagate by both vegetative and seed methods. When seed propagation, it must be borne in mind that seed germination is small - no more than 40%, and seedlings can be completely unlike parents. It is best to sow freshly harvested seeds in a winter bed before winter. They are laid out in grooves with a depth of 1 cm and sprinkled with earth. For spring sowing, Thunberg barberry seeds must be stratified for 3 months. After planting in phase 2 of real leaves, seedlings grow another two years.

By dividing the bush, only those varieties that give root offspring can be propagated.

Green shoots are suitable for rooting cuttings. Lignified - take root much worse and require storage during the winter. The length of the handle is from 7 to 10 cm. It is best to cut it from the middle part of the shoot, making the upper horizontal section and oblique - the bottom. Spines on the shoots are not cut, the lower pairs of leaves are removed, leaving only the top with half-cut leaf blades. Cuttings are planted in a mini plate, tilting them 45 degrees. Planting pattern: 5x10 cm. Rooting temperature from 20 to 25 degrees. It is necessary to maintain high soil and air humidity. Rooted cuttings are grown for another 2 years.

Diseases and pests - how to treat

Most often, Thunberg barberry is affected by fungal diseases.

The most common:

  • tracheomycotic wilting - the fungus attacks the root system, from this the bushes fade and die; You can fight diseases with the help of fungicides, after removing all dried plants;
  • drying of the branches is also caused by the fungus, control measures - spraying with copper-containing preparations;
  • powdery mildew - a fungal disease, it is fought with the help of fungicides;
  • rust appears in the form of round red spots on the leaves, copper-containing fungicides will help to cope with this fungal disease.

Of the pests, the aphid most often attacks the shrub. To combat it, there are many insecticides and folk remedies: Fitoverm, Aktara, Intervir, infusion of tobacco, onion husks or garlic.

The main problems when growing

Thunberg barberry usually does not cause problems to the owner. With proper care and an optimally selected planting location, the shrub will always be decorative. If the summer turned out to be damp, it will not be out of place to take care of the preventive treatment of powdery mildew.

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