Barberry is a rare visitor in our gardens. And completely in vain, because he is a very beautiful decorative shrubbery and also has tasty edible fruits. Learn how to grow an Ottawa barberry "Superba" to create a colorful hedge or a colorful landscape composition.
Barbaris Ottawa "Superba" - description
This barberry variety differs from others (barberry common, Tounberg variety) in size. The height of the Ottawa barberry "Superba" is from 2.5 to 4 m, depending on the age of the plant. The bush itself is large, spreading. Its branches are usually dangling arched, and the crown has a strong annual growth.
The leaves of this plant deserve special attention. They have a jagged form and a red-violet color, the shade of which will differ depending on the illumination. In addition to bright leaves, the barberry is beautifully blooming with yellow flowers that appear at the end of May and pleases the eye until the middle of June. In October, when most of the garden plants leave during the rest period, bunches of bright red fruits appear on the bush barberry, and the leaves are painted in scarlet or fiery tones and still remain on the plant for a very long time. Due to this Ottawa barberry is very decorative, it is used for sheared fences and single plantings. In any case, the barberry bush of this variety will be an excellent decoration of your garden!
Barbaris Ottawa "Superba" - planting and care
Barberry can be planted both in the lighted garden area and in the penumbra. Depending on this, the color of its leaves will be different: in the light they are usually more saturated color, and the shade shrub has a greenish-red hue.
Variety of barberry "Superba" is unpretentious and, in particular, is undemanding to the fertility of the soil. Ideally, it should be well drained and contain a mixture of sand, humus and turf ground with an average acidity value (otherwise liming is desirable). But the practice shows that the barberry "Superba" takes root anywhere in the site, the main thing is to provide him with a decent care. When planting this shrub, the root neck should be placed at ground level.
The only thing barberry does not like, so it's waterlogging, especially stagnant. If your bush grows on heavy, marshy soils or in the lowland, do not flood it with water, otherwise the plant will inevitably disappear. It only needs to be watered occasionally, since one of the properties of Canadian barberry is drought resistance.
Pruning of the bush (especially the old one) should be done in the spring, for sanitary purposes. For this, old, frozen or poorly developed shoots are removed. Barbaris well tolerates the haircut of the crown for decorative purposes. But at the same time the bush usually keeps a good shape, and its frequent forming because of the peculiarities of the internodes of the plant is undesirable.
If you planted barberry in order to create a hedge, for the second year after planting, you should prune, removing half of the aboveground part of each shoot. In the future pruning is carried out twice a year, so that the fence grows in the right shape. Do it best in the summer - in June and early August.
It should also be noted that, although barberry also belongs to winter-hardy plants, it is better to cover young bushes for winter with lapnika.
In addition to the danger of frosts, the Ottawa barberry "Superba" is susceptible to attacks by pests such as aphids and moths. He can get rust or powdery mildew . Fighting them is no different from treating other garden plants.