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Many people perceive barberry as a fragrant berry, sweet and tasty candy. But not only fruits attract the attention of gardeners. Landscape designers use Golden Rocket barberry to decorate their summer cottage. Throughout the growing season, the plant attracts with its decorative effect. And how not to admire the unusual flowers and leaves!
Description of barberry Golden Rocket
Barberry Thunberg Golden Rocket belongs to the columnar deciduous shrubs. The shoots are vertical, rigid, grow up to 1,5 m, the span of a dense crown is almost half a meter. The bush grows slowly, the annual growth is small.
The shoots of the first year are rich orange-pink. Older stems are reddish. On the shoots along the entire length there are sharp spikes about 1 cm.
The small leaves of the barberry Golden Rocket (as in the photo below) attract attention with their unusualness. The leaves are round in shape.
The formation of buds, and then flowering, begins in June. Delicate flowers with a pale yellow tint. Barberry Golden Rocket flowers are fragrant, so there are a lot of bees above them during flowering. Gardeners often install beehives next to plantings.
The berries ripen by the end of September, do not fall off after full ripening. The yield of bushes is stable from year to year. The fruits give a special decorative effect to the Golden Rocket barberry bushes with their coral color. By the end of November, the leaves fall off, only berries remain on the bushes, which birds feed on in winter.
Barberry Golden Rocket in landscape design
Decorative barberry Golden Rocket attracts landscape designers and gardeners. With the help of a shrub with a dense and wide crown, you can:
- frame lawns, create a hedge;
- create rockeries, and rocky gardens in the Japanese style;
- plant barberry singly or include it in group compositions;
- arrange flower beds;
- use as a tapeworm for mini-gardens of conifers;
- arrange mixborders.
Hedge
When creating hedges, the possibility of modeling the crown using pruning is taken into account. The branches of the barberry Golden Rocket grow densely, bloom beautifully. In autumn, the decorative effect is provided by bright yellow leaves with a reddish tint and coral berries. At this time, birds flock to the bushes, filling the whole area with their chirping.
Plants with a spreading crown can be planted on small elevations. Typically, gardeners who want to create a unique hedge use barberry varieties with different leaf colors. In China and Japan, landscape designers create real masterpieces by giving bushes different heights and shapes.
Against the background of conifers
Evergreen conifers are a great backdrop for Thunberg Golden Rocket. Emerald green effectively sets off the yellow leaves of barberry. The plant also looks unique in autumn, when rich red berries ripen on it.
Single landings
Most often summer cottages are small, it will not work to place a hedge on them. Therefore, landscape designers prefer single plantings of Golden Rocket barberry.
If the site has a pool or other artificial reservoir, you can plant barberry bushes around them. The uniqueness of this placement of the plant is that the site will resemble a forest clearing near a lake or river.
Low plants with decorative coloring of leaves and fruits – ideal for alpine slides and stone gardens. You just need to choose the ideal height and cut the bushes correctly.
Rockery and microborder
Experienced gardeners, familiar with the secrets of landscape design, create beautiful rockeries with the help of Golden Rocket barberry. After all, the shrub goes well with other types of flowering plants.
Light fences made of wood or brick can be decorated with barberries. Growing in width, the bushes will hide any flaws in the fence, take up free space.
Planting and caring for barberry Golden Rocket
Barberry Thunberg Golden Rocket is an unpretentious plant. It can be planted on any soil except acidic. With an increased rate, lime or wood ash is added before planting. It is not recommended to grow barberry bushes in places where water stagnates.
For single plantings, the distance between the bushes is kept – 1,5-2 m. To create a hedge, the barberry is placed in increments of 0,5 m.
Seedling and planting preparation
For planting the Golden Rocket barberry, a well-lit area is chosen. Do not plant bushes in the shade of tall trees. When placed against the background of conifers, they retreat from trees and shrubs at a distance of at least 1,5 m, so that a shadow does not fall on the barberry, and the root system of the trees does not interfere with its development. The site is dug up, weeds and their roots are removed. If necessary, make wood ash or lime.
Planting material should not be damaged by diseases and pests. If the plant has an open root system, then this part must be at least 20 cm long, healthy and lively.
It is advisable to plant seedlings after purchase. If there is not enough time, the seedlings are dug in the shade or the roots are wrapped in polyethylene so that they do not dry out. Before planting for a day, the barberry is soaked in plain water or a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Planting plants with an open root system should be planned for the fall, when the leaves fall from the seedlings or in the spring, until the buds swell. Barberry Golden Rocket plants grown in containers can be planted at any time.
Rules of landing
When preparing a hole for barberry, you need to take into account the size of the root system. The seat should be twice as large.
Landing steps:
- Drainage is laid at the bottom of the landing pit, then soil consisting of sand and humus in equal proportions.
- A hill is made in the center of the pit, a seedling is placed on it and the root system is straightened if it is open.
- If a barberry is planted from a container, then the roots of the plant are strongly twisted. To speed up survival, you need to cut a lump vertically in several places.
- Plants are sprinkled to the root neck, like other deciduous shrubs. This planting stimulates the growth of young shoots.
- The soil is compacted and watered abundantly to remove air bubbles from under the roots.
- Cut off the aerial part, leaving a few buds. You should not feel sorry for the regrown shoots, the fact is that such a procedure accelerates rooting. Barberry Golden Rocket will not have to spend energy on the maintenance of the above-ground part.
- After planting, the soil is mulched, the plants are watered every week.
Watering and top dressing
In the first years of life, the barberry needs watering with warm water. In the future, the plant provides itself with moisture on its own, thanks to a powerful root system. Therefore, plantings are watered only during a long drought.
Feed the bushes in the spring with organic matter.
Trimming
Since the plant is grown to decorate the site, it is necessary to carry out 2 types of pruning:
- decorative;
- sanitary.
Sanitary haircuts are carried out in spring and autumn. At the same time, damaged and underdeveloped shoots are removed. Also cut out the branches growing inside the bush.
The hedge is trimmed in the 2nd year after planting, cutting off the shoots by 2/3 of the height. Then pruning is carried out twice a year: in June and August.
Preparation for winter
In autumn, before the onset of frost, the soil around the bushes is covered with mulch: compost, peat, sawdust or fine bark.
Adult bushes of barberry Thunberg Golden Rocket, according to the description, are winter-hardy, therefore they do not need shelter. Young plants are covered with spruce branches or dry foliage for 2-3 years.
Reproduction
Buying seedlings is quite expensive, especially for creating a hedge. If there are already plantings of barberry on the site, then planting material can be obtained independently.
Thunberg breeds:
- cuttings;
- division of the bush;
- layering;
- seeds.
And now about each method in more detail.
Cutting
In the spring, until the leaves have blossomed, you need to cut the cuttings from well-developed young shoots. Stick into the ground, in a greenhouse, cover with polyethylene. In order for the cuttings to give roots faster, any growth accelerators are used for irrigation. When the leaves appear, you need to remove the film. Water moderately and be sure to loosen the soil. Transplanting to a permanent place is best done in the fall.
Division of the bush
Carefully remove the bush from the pit, and cut it into pieces so that each of them has growth buds and a root system. Immediately plant in a permanent place.
Layering
In the spring, select annual shoots and bend them to the ground in a groove made in advance and fix them well with a bracket. Cover with earth to a depth of 20 cm. In the future, the future seedling is watered. In autumn, it will have a well-developed root system.
seed
It is not difficult to collect barberry seeds on your own, it is enough to take ripe fruits. Select the bones and pat dry. Before sowing, the seeds are washed in a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Barberries are sown before winter, as the seed requires natural stratification. Seedlings appear the next year. After 12-18 months, the seedlings are moved to a permanent place. Fruiting barberry grown from seeds will begin in 2-3 years.
Diseases and pests
Like any cultivated plant, the Thunberg barberry is affected by diseases and pests.
The shrub often suffers from fungal diseases. The problem can be identified by early wilting and drying of the foliage. To fight you need to use chemicals.
Of the pests, gardeners note barberry aphids. Yellow-red insects settle on the lower part of the leaf, suck out the juice. The leaves begin to dry and fall off. As a result, flower buds do not have time to form. As a preventive measure, the bushes should be sprayed in the spring (or when an insect appears) with folk remedies:
- insist chopped garlic, add laundry soap;
- well destroys aphids infusion of tobacco.
Conclusion
The unpretentious barberry Golden Rocket is easy to grow. Bushes are used to create unique compositions for decorating the garden.
