The Barberry Shrub, painful to plant, but an attractive shrub for any flower garden design

The Rose Glow Barberry from my garden. This shrub is planted close to the pond. Image was taken July 28, 2009.

About The Japanese Barberry Rose Glow

Though thorny, the Barberry Shrub colors any flower garden design for summer and fall. The only draw-back to this garden shrub is the thorns. They hurt! Other than needing to be extra careful when planting and pruning, this shrub offers some of the best color in foliage. I grow mine close to the pond's edge and beside the shrub I planted Sedum Autumn Joy. Both will look great together as companions as the Sedum slowly turns from green to red.

For years (over 30) this shrub was banned in Canada and could not be purchased. Even though many still agree that the Barberry is an invasive shrub, it can be pruned and new seedlings can be removed/pulled from the garden. Fortunately I have not had this issue.

I just love the Rose Glow for its creamy white and pastel pink marbled foliage, which turns a ruby red in the fall.

How To Grow The Barberry

This shrub can be planted in either full sun or part shade, however it does prefer a moist soil so if planted in full sun make sure to water often and don't let the shrub dry out.

You can fertilize monthly when fertilizing the rest of your garden and even though this is a compact shrub, it can be pruned if desired...just wear thick gloves.

Features of the Japanese Barberry

The Green Barberry shrub picture above was taken September 1, 2009 from my south flower garden. This is the Barberry shrub that the deer ate right down to a stub. As the picture shows, the shrub has grown back beautifully! However, I am still quite puzzled as to how the deer enjoyed chewing all of the thorns...

This variety can grow quite large so if you are like me and have it planted in a contained area of your flowerbed, then pruning will be necessary.

Pest rarely bother this shrub. It enjoys either a sun, part sun or filtered sun location within a garden design. I do not have any planted in my shade garden so I cannot attest to its shade growth.

As with any newly planted shrub, add some organic matter, add a tablespoon of MYKE growth supplement, water until well established and fertilize as you would the rest of your garden shrubs.

If the shrub is to be kept pruned, some great companion plants could be: Sedum Autumn Joy as in the image above or Marigolds, Verbena . Even the Ageratum Blue Horizon or the Salvia Victoria Blue would make striking plant companions.

In the above image just behind the Barberry shrub is a planting of regular garden mums. I had purchased the annual garden mums last year as potted mums to add fall color to my flower garden. Low and behold, the annual potted garden mums to hold and returned this year. Needless to say I am pleased as I planted three and they all are about to bloom.

Check out my Site Index Page for a listing of additional annuals and perennials to plant in your flower garden design.

Related pages:

To learn more about other shrubs and I planted and learn how to prune shrubs please visit:

Go to My Garden Shrubs Page

Go back from Barberry Shrub Page to Gardening and Landscaping Home Page

Can't find what you are looking for? Use the Search Box below and thanks for visiting my web site.

Please visit again and why not 'Bookmark' this site as a favorite...makes it easy to find us again.