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Barberry is a beautiful shrub that is used not only for decorative purposes, but also for the preparation of healing drinks according to traditional medicine recipes. Breeders have bred dozens of varieties of this shrub, each of which has its own advantages and nuances of growing. Barberry Bagatelle is one of the most popular varieties that many gardeners and landscape design professionals are well aware of.
Description of barberry Bagatelle
In appearance, this variety is one of the most compact. The width and height of the shrub are 40 cm each. With the right haircut, you can give the shape of a ball that best suits this shrub. Young shoots are red-brown, but by autumn it changes to pure brown.
The leaves of the shrub have a bright purple color when illuminated by the sun. The size of the leaves is about 1 cm wide. The shape is ovoid. If the plant is in the shade, then the shade changes to green-red. In autumn, the color of the leaves changes again to bright red. Leaves fall in winter.
During the year, the shoots grow by about 2 cm. The barberry Bagatelle blooms with small yellow flowers, which are collected in inflorescences. The flowering period is May-June. When landing, it prefers a lighted place or light partial shade.
Berries ripen in the second half of September. The fruits of the barberry Bagatelle are oblong, shiny, edible. The shrub is able to tolerate heat and drought. Frosty winters are also easily tolerated if there is sufficient snow cover.
Barberry Thunberg Bagatelle in landscape design
In landscape design, this variety of shrubs is used very widely. First of all, these are sheared hedges and various fences.
And also group compositions that combine a variety of varieties of barberry look beautiful.
A compact plant looks beautiful in single plantings, especially in sunny areas.
Various rock gardens and group plantings with barberry look especially luxurious.
With proper application, a real greenhouse can be made from the site.
It is also possible to arrange a monochromatic landscape using only the Bagatelle barberry, as in the photo.
Even a non-professional can cope with the arrangement of the site with the help of barberry. It is important to choose the right landing site, as well as regularly carry out shaping pruning.
Planting and caring for barberry Turnberg Bagatelle
To form a luxurious look in a shrub, it is necessary not only to cut it correctly, but also to grow it, in accordance with all the conditions of agricultural technology. The barberry of this variety can be called an unpretentious plant, but there are some care nuances.
The shrub requires watering and top dressing, mandatory pruning twice a year, as well as protection from certain diseases and pests that can damage the appearance of the shrub and slow down its growth rate. The very first question that confronts the gardener is where and how to plant the Bagatelle barberry.
Seedling and planting preparation
First of all, you should decide on the place. Barberry Bagatelle loves the sun, only in open sunny areas there will be a rich purple color of the leaves. It is worth paying attention to the location of groundwater. Barberry does not like too waterlogged soils, and diseases of the root system occur from high humidity.
Bagatelle is unpretentious to soil acidity, although neutral acidity parameters are better than all the others. The plant will successfully survive a dry summer, it will not grow worse in a strong wind, it will survive the frost. In principle, you can choose any convenient place for planting, and with strong soil moisture, just make drainage.
For seedlings, it is advisable to prepare a hole in advance, a couple of weeks before the intended planting. The distance is recommended to be maintained, depending on the garden composition:
- single landings – 1,5-2 m between shrubs;
- for a dense hedge – 4 shrubs per linear meter;
- for a free hedge – 2 plants per linear meter.
At the bottom of the hole, a layer of coarse sand should be covered. If the soil is too wet and groundwater is close, then it is recommended to lay drainage from pebbles under the sand. The width of the seat should be greater than the root system of the seedling.
If the soil is acidic, then it will need liming. For each bush, it is enough to add 300 g of slaked lime to make the soil neutral.
Planting Bagatel barberry
For planting, a nutrient mixture is used. It is made from humus, sand and garden soil. All components must be taken in equal quantities. Landing is carried out as follows:
- On top of the drainage, you need to pour a small amount of the nutrient mixture, which is described above, into a slide.
- Put a seedling, gently straighten the horses.
- Pour everything with the remaining nutrient mixture so that the root collar is at ground level.
- Compact the earth.
- Water the shrub.
- Mulch the seedling with peat.
The part that is located above the ground is cut off from the seedling, but be sure to leave a site with several healthy buds.
Watering and top dressing
Barberry Turnberg Bagatelle, according to the descriptions of experts, categorically does not like excess moisture. It is optimal for him to organize drip irrigation. Or make sure that the root system does not get stuck. If the summer is rainy, then you do not need to water the shrub at all. He has enough natural moisture.
As for top dressing, it is not needed in the first two years of life. Then the plant will need nitrogen fertilizers. Dissolve 10 g of urea in 30 liters of water. This is enough until the age of 6 years of the plant.
And also granular fertilizers, which are applied immediately before flowering, will not interfere. In the second year of life in the fall, potash fertilizers will not hurt.
As necessary, be sure to weed the shrub, as well as loosen the soil near it. Before fertilization, loosening is a mandatory procedure. If you do not get rid of weeds, then diseases or pests may appear in the shrub, which will pretty much spoil the appearance of Bagatelle.
Trimming
Barberry Bagatelle, like any ornamental shrub, freely tolerates pruning. If it is not produced, then the appearance deteriorates, growth is inhibited, and the yield of barberry also decreases. There are two types of pruning: sanitary and shaping.
Sanitary pruning of the barberry Bagatel is carried out in the spring, when it is necessary to remove frozen and diseased shoots. In addition, dried branches must be removed throughout the season. A large number of dry shoots adversely affects the health of the entire shrub.
For the arrangement of hedges, formative pruning is carried out in the second year after planting, and then annually 2 times – in early June and in August. Both times cut from 1/3 of the length to 2/3.
The Bagatelle shrub is so compact that in some hedges it doesn’t even need pruning. With single plantings, the Bagatelle barberry is easy to give any shape, but preferably spherical.
For proper pruning, you need good quality and sharp tools: a hacksaw, pruner, brush cutters.
Preparation for winter
If there is no guarantee that the winter will be snowy, then the bush will have to be prepared. Barberry Bagatelle is able to tolerate frost, but preferably under a layer of snow. In the first two years, the seedling is recommended to cover. For this, spruce branches, peat or straw are successfully used. At an older age, only the root zone can be covered. During very severe winters, some gardeners bend side branches to the soil and also insulate them with spruce branches.
Reproduction
Reproduction of barberry Bagatelle occurs in different ways. Each gardener chooses the most convenient method for himself. Bagatelle breeds:
- Layers and root processes – the method is used infrequently, since the shoots do not always retain all the characteristics of the mother plant. They can also “get wild”.
- Seeds. A troublesome method, especially since the seeds have only 40% germination. A seedling is obtained only two years after planting. The process is laborious and therefore takes a lot of time.
- Cuttings – the most popular and easiest way to propagate the Bagatelle shrub. For cuttings, prunings obtained in summer or autumn are used. But summer pruning is considered a better option.
- By dividing the bush – when transplanting, the mother bush is divided into several parts, each of which becomes an independent plant.
After planting, care for the seedling in the first year is more thorough, until the plant is fully established and begins to bloom and bear fruit.
Diseases and pests
The most common diseases of barberry Bagatelle:
- powdery mildew;
- rust;
- spotting of various types;
- withering.
It should be treated with specialized preparations, according to the instructions.
Of the pests, the barberry aphid is considered the most dangerous, which leads to wilting and wrinkling of the leaves. Soap and tobacco solutions are used for prevention and as a treatment.
Conclusion
Barberry Bagatelle is used to decorate plots, and its fruits are a healing agent that is used in many traditional medicine recipes. This variety is characterized by a compact shrub and unpretentiousness. Admiration is caused by red leaves, which look especially rich in sunny areas. In the presence of a shadow, the leaves become with a green tint, which no longer looks so luxurious.
