Garden Plants, How and where to grow them - Shrubs & Hedging

Barberry
Berberis darwinii - Shrub

A deservedly popular form, Berberis darwinii possibly the loveliest of the genus. Small glossy green leaves looking like a miniature holly leaf with gorgeous golden yellow flowers in spring. An evergreen, some of the older leaves fall in the autumn after turning a beautiful red colour.


Vibrant orange-yellow flowers appear in the spring, covering the bush, often with a second if smaller showing in the autumn along with bluish-purple berries. Good as part of a mixed border and as a mixed or single species hedge. Vigorous and easy to grow in almost all soils.

  • Height and spread: 3m x 3m (10ft x 10ft)
  • Position: full sun or partial shade
  • Soil: fairly unfussy
  • Rate of growth: medium to fast, depending on position
  • Flowering period: April to May, sometimes a second show in autumn
  • Flower colour: yellow-orange
  • Other features: bluish-purple autumn berries, red leaf colour in autumn
  • Hardiness: fully hardy
  • Uses: Hedging / mixed border
  • Planting distance when used for hedging: 45cm, 18"
  • Clipped height: 1.5-2.5m, 5-8ft
  • Number of times to clip per season and when: 1, immediately after flowering
  • Responds to renovation?: Yes, cut whole plant back to 30cm, 12" of ground in late winter to renovate
  • Pruning: Usually requires minimal pruning. Can prune in early summer after flowering, though that seasons berries will be lost, otherwise prune in autumn or winter after fruiting.



Buy Berberis darwinii

Photo credits: (numbering left to right top to bottom) 1-Berberis darwinii josh jackson - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. / 2-Berberis darwinii Andy Andrew Fogg - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. / 3-Berberis darwinii Dick Culbert from Gibsons BC Canada - Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. / 4-Berberis darwinii Michael Wolf - Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. / 5-Berberis darwinii Stan Shebs - Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. / 6-Tom Morris - Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.





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