Coin-shaped barberry: what it is and how to grow

Please tell us how to grow coin-shaped barberry? We bought seedlings of fruit trees for the garden and saw this bush in the nursery. I love barberry, I make delicious jams and drinks from it, but I always bought berries before. I decided to take the moment and bought a seedling. If it takes root, now I will have my own berries.

Coin-shaped barberry as a cultivated plant is rare, and in vain. The undeservedly neglected shrub is actually one of the most unpretentious plants. It develops well and rather quickly and winters well in our conditions. A hedge of barberry bushes will decorate the site with bright colors, and will also delight you with a plentiful harvest of tasty and healthy berries.

What does a plant look like

Coin-shaped barberry grows in the form of a large spreading shrub. Its height can reach 4 m. Young shoots are covered with bluish bark, but as they mature they acquire a gorgeous purple color. Almost round leaves up to 4 cm long and almost the same width are located along the entire length of the branches. At the tips they are rounded and sometimes have teeth, but towards the base they always become narrower. The leaf plate is very dense, leathery, rich green. The spines can be simple or trifoliate, rather long.

In the month of May, barberry blooms in lush tassels up to 6 cm long, consisting of 2 dozen yellow small flowers. In an adult plant, against a background of red shoots, the sunny yellow flowering looks especially impressive. The berries begin to ripen in the month of September. They are egg-shaped, not very large (only 0.5 cm long) and are colored red.

Barberry looks great in single plantings, and it will also make a decorative hedge. However, when pruning it, it should be borne in mind that the plant lays flower buds on last year's branches. If harvesting healthy berries is important, trimming should be kept to a minimum.

Coin-shaped barberry: simple cultivation features

The shrub has an unpretentious character and high winter hardiness. It is better to plant it in a well-lit place. This will make the plant more lush and the harvest more abundant. Barberry can grow in almost any soil except waterlogged. It is best to plant seedlings in the fall, be sure to huddle young plants for the winter. In the future, the adult barberry does not need shelter.

When planting, it is advisable to add fertilizers to the planting pit: humus, ash and superphosphate... This will allow you to do without additional dressing of barberry for the next 2-3 years.

Caring for a perennial is not difficult and consists in the following procedures:

1. At first, young seedlings need to be watered often, but little by little. Natural precipitation is enough for mature bushes. However, if summers are dry, they also need to be watered occasionally.
2. Loosening the soil.
3. Pruning. Basically, this is a sanitary cutting: the removal of dry, sick and damaged shoots. If the bush is weakly branching, pruning of branches up to 4 buds is allowed.

It is necessary to harvest barberries at the semi-ripeness stage, until the berries become too soft. For storage, they can be dried or sprinkled with sugar and kept in the refrigerator. The shrub is propagated by seeds or root shoots.

Growing barberry in the garden - video