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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 properties. And how can you not admire the unusual flowers and leaves!
Description of barberry Golden Rocket
Barberry Thunberg Golden Rocket is a columnar deciduous shrub. The shoots are vertical, rigid, grow up to 1.5 m, the span of the dense crown is almost half a meter. The bush grows slowly, the annual growth is small.
The shoots of the first year are a rich orange-pink color. Older stems are reddish. The shoots have sharp thorns about 1 cm along their entire length.
The small-sized leaves of the Golden Rocket barberry (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. Golden Rocket barberry flowers are fragrant, so there are a lot of bees above them during flowering. Gardeners often install beehives next to their plantings.
The berries ripen by the end of September and do not fall off after full ripening. The yield of the bushes is stable from year to year. The fruits add a special decorative effect to Golden Rocket barberry bushes with their coral coloring. By the end of November, the leaves fall, only berries remain on the bushes, which birds feed on in winter.
Barberry Golden Rocket in landscape design
The decorative properties of Golden Rocket barberry attract landscape designers and gardeners. With the help of a bush with a dense and wide crown you can:
- frame lawns, create hedges;
- create rockeries and rocky gardens in Japanese style;
- plant barberry individually or include it in group compositions;
- arrange flower beds;
- use as a tapeworm for mini-gardens of coniferous plants;
- arrange mixborders.
Hedge
When creating hedges, the possibility of modeling the crown using pruning is taken into account. The branches of Golden Rocket barberry grow thickly and bloom beautifully. In autumn, decorativeness is provided by bright yellow leaves with a reddish tint and coral berries. At this time, birds flock to the bushes, filling the entire 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, giving bushes different heights and shapes.
Against the background of conifers
Evergreen conifers are a great backdrop for Thunberg's Golden Rocket. Emerald greenery effectively sets off the yellow leaves of barberry. The plant also looks unique in the fall, when its rich red berries ripen.
Single landings
Most often, summer cottages are small and it is not possible to place a hedge on them. Therefore, landscape designers prefer single plantings of Golden Rocket barberry.
If there is a pool or other artificial reservoir on the site, 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 colors of leaves and fruits are ideal for alpine hills and rock gardens. You just need to choose the ideal height and trim the bushes correctly.
Rockery and microborder
Experienced gardeners, familiar with the secrets of landscape design, create beautiful rockeries using 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 barberry. Growing in width, the bushes will hide any flaws in the fence and take up free space.
Planting and caring for Golden Rocket barberry
Barberry Thunberg Golden Rocket is an unpretentious plant. It can be planted on any soil except acidic. If the indicator is increased, lime or wood ash is added before planting. It is not recommended to grow barberry bushes in places where water stagnates.
For single plantings, maintain a distance between bushes of 1.5-2 m. To create a hedge, barberries are placed in increments of 0.5 m.
Preparing seedlings and planting area
To plant Golden Rocket barberry, choose a well-lit area. You should 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 no shadow falls 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, add wood ash or lime.
Planting material should not be damaged by diseases or pests. If the plant has an open root system, then this part should be at least 20 cm long, healthy and alive.
It is advisable to plant seedlings after purchase. If there is not enough time, seedlings are buried in the shade or the roots are wrapped in plastic so that they do not dry out. Before planting, barberry is soaked for a day in plain water or a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Planting of plants with an open root system should be planned for the fall, when the leaves fall from the seedlings, or in the spring, before the buds swell. Golden Rocket barberry plants grown in containers can be planted at any time.
Landing rules
When preparing a hole for barberry, you need to take into account the size of the root system.The seating area should be twice as large.
Planting stages:
- Drainage is placed at the bottom of the planting pit, then soil consisting of sand and humus in equal proportions.
- A hill is made in the center of the hole, a seedling is placed on it and the root system is straightened if it is open.
- If barberry is planted from a container, the roots of the plant are very twisted. To speed up the establishment, you need to cut the lump vertically in several places.
- Sprinkle plants up to the root collar, 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.
- Trim off the above-ground part, leaving a few buds. You should not feel sorry for the regrown shoots; the fact is that this procedure speeds up rooting. Barberry Golden Rocket will not have to waste energy on maintaining the above-ground part.
- After planting, the soil is mulched and the plants are watered every week.
Watering and fertilizing
In the first years of life, barberry needs to be watered with warm water. In the future, the plant provides itself with moisture independently, thanks to its powerful root system. Therefore, plantings are watered only during prolonged drought.
Feed the bushes with organic matter in the spring.
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. The branches growing inside the bush are also cut out.
The hedge is trimmed in the 2nd year after planting, cutting off the shoots to 2/3 of the height. Then pruning is carried out twice a year: in June and August.
Preparing for winter
In the fall, 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, so they do not need shelter. Young plants are covered with spruce branches or dry leaves for 2-3 years.
Reproduction
Buying seedlings is quite expensive, especially for creating a hedge. If there are already barberry plantings on the site, then you can obtain the planting material yourself.
Thunberg multiplies:
- cuttings;
- dividing the bush;
- layering;
- seeds.
And now about each method in more detail.
Cuttings
In the spring, before the leaves bloom, you need to take cuttings from well-developed young shoots. Stick it into the ground in a greenhouse, cover with polyethylene. To ensure that the cuttings produce roots faster, any growth accelerators are used for watering. When the leaves appear, you need to remove the film. Water moderately and be sure to loosen the soil. It is better to transplant to a permanent place in the fall.
Dividing the bush
Carefully remove the bush from the hole and cut it into pieces so that each of them contains growth buds and a root system. Immediately plant in a permanent place.
Layerings
In the spring, select annual shoots and bend them to the ground into a pre-made groove and secure them well with a bracket. Cover with soil to a depth of 20 cm. Subsequently, the future seedling is watered. In autumn it will have a well-developed root system.
Seeds
It is not difficult to collect barberry seeds yourself; just take ripe fruits. Select the seeds and dry them. Before sowing, the seeds are washed in a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
Barberry is sown before winter, since the seed requires natural stratification. Shoots appear the next year.After 12-18 months, the seedlings are moved to a permanent location. Fruiting of barberry grown from seeds will begin in 2-3 years.
Diseases and pests
Like any cultivated plants, 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 combat it you need to use chemicals.
Among the pests, gardeners note the barberry aphid. Yellow-red insects settle on the lower part of the leaf and suck out the juice. The leaves begin to dry out and fall off. As a result, flower buds do not have time to form. As a preventive measure, bushes should be sprayed in the spring (or when an insect appears) with folk remedies:
- infuse chopped garlic, add laundry soap;
- Tobacco infusion works well to destroy aphids.
Conclusion
The unpretentious Golden Rocket barberry is easy to grow. Bushes are used to create unique compositions to decorate the garden.