The owners of summer cottages choose for themselves not only fruit-bearing bushes, but also beautiful and ornamental plants. If it turns out to combine these two moments, then everything is fine. One of the common shrubs for private plots is the barberry Admiration, which has good decorative performance.

A bit of history

For the first time, this type of culture was grown in the Far East, but gradually the shrub gained popularity in Europe, as well as in the CIS countries. The very first, more than 100 years ago, to grow this particular type of barberry were in Japan and China. Today, these bushes are very popular in Russia to decorate personal plots. Many gardeners do not cease to admire the compositions that are created using this particular barberry variety.

Features of the variety

Barberry Thunberg Aurea

First of all, it is worth noting the Thunberg Admiration barberry variety for its original beautiful crown. The plant has a coral leaf color, which is admirable even at first glance. Each individual leaf does not exceed 2 cm and is framed with a thin yellow rim.

In autumn, the plant changes its color and becomes brighter and more saturated (the leaves turn red-orange). In terms of its height, this variety of shrubs is small, not exceeding half a meter. In width, this dwarf plant can reach up to 1 m. The crown is very dense and dense, in shape it very much resembles a volumetric pillow.

Barberry Admiration

The root system is well-branched, of a superficial type, there are a lot of thin roots.

Flowering barberry

The shrub blooms in the month of May. The flowers are very neat, up to 1 cm in diameter and painted in a delicate pink color. Numerous flowers are collected in racemose inflorescences of 3-5 pcs. After flowering, beautiful small red berries (up to 1 cm) appear in place of them, which stay on the bush almost all winter. Barberry Thunberg Admiration attracts a huge number of gardeners with its beauty and unpretentiousness.

With the correct formation of the bush, after a few years, you can get a neat round bush, which both in length and width will have approximately the same dimensions (40-50 cm). The slow growth of this ornamental plant is a little upsetting - the growth in one year does not exceed 20 cm. With proper care, the plant can grow for about 50 years.

Barberry bushes are used in the design of city streets

With great success, such bushes are used not only in private plots, but also in the design of city streets. Barberry bushes of this variety are often used to create live borders and low hedges.

Interesting fact. You can also grow such a culture at home. A dwarf bush will feel great in an ordinary pot, the main thing is that the root system has enough space.

Agrotechnics

Barberry Maria

If you decide to decorate your site with such a shrub as barberry Admiration, you should learn about all the features of agricultural technology, as well as purchase high-quality planting material. The description of the barberry Admiration will not be complete if you do not consider the main points of caring for the shrub.

Landing

You can buy a plant in special nurseries. The seedlings are sold in pots. Planting them is quite simple, the main thing is to choose the right place so that the young bush feels comfortable enough.Barberry prefers lighted areas with fertile soil. In the shade, the plant also feels normal, but its decorative characteristics suffer from the lack of light.

Saplings are sold in the nursery in special pots

The soil where the decorative bush will grow must necessarily contain humus, turf, sand in a ratio of 1: 2: 1. Barberry can be grown both on acidic soil and on neutral soil, but the latter option is still more preferable for the plant. The optimum acidity for this plant is considered to be a pH of 6-7.5.

You will need to prepare a hole, which should be deep enough so that the entire root system can be located in it. The planting process is very simple: the plant is removed from the pot and moved into a prepared hole. After planting, it is recommended to mulch the root surface.

Barberry in the open field

Important! To provide the plant roots with sufficient oxygen, loosening should be carried out regularly.

When planting bushes in the form of a hedge, a distance of 1.5-2 meters is maintained between individual bushes, so that the crown of plants can fully develop and grow without restriction.

Plant propagation can be carried out in various ways with equal success:

  • dividing the bush;
  • cuttings;
  • seeds (their viability is about 90%).

Propagation of barberry by cuttings

Cuttings can be prepared by yourself. The fact that the bush is ready for grafting will be indicated by a change in the color of its lower part (the process of lignification of green shoots begins).

Care rules

When watering, it is worth remembering that the plant does not like too much moisture. It is not necessary to fill the barberry of Thunberg Admiration even in the most intense heat. Watering is carried out directly under the root, spraying the leaves can only harm the shrub.

Top dressing of shrubs is carried out twice a year with mineral complex compositions, as well as by introducing compost into the soil.

Mineral fertilizers for barberry

The barberry shrub lends itself easily to bush formation. With the ability to correctly trim, you can get very attractive shapes. But many gardeners do not prune the bushes at all, giving them the opportunity to grow as they please. Such landings look very cute and natural. If a decision is made to cut the bush, then it is best to do this in early spring.

Important! During pruning, one should not only take care of the shape of the crown, but also remove diseased, damaged and weak branches.

Despite the fact that the plant tolerates frost perfectly, in the coldest regions it is still recommended to prepare the bushes for winter, the root soil, especially the first three years, should not be left open. This is especially true for young bushes. The first three years, the root part can be insulated with peat or dry leaves.

Pests and diseases

Barberry aphid

The plant is distinguished by an average level of immunity to many diseases and pest settlements. Nevertheless, in the process of growing, you can meet certain problems. It is worth considering the most likely:

  1. An insect such as barberry aphid can spoil the beautiful decorative appearance of shrubs. Its presence can be determined by the fact that the beautiful leaves began to wrinkle and curl. To cope with the insect, spring treatment is carried out. Two options can be used: soap or tobacco solution. In the first case, 300 g of crushed laundry soap is diluted in 10 liters of water. In the second case, the drug is prepared in the same way, only, in addition to soap, makhorka (500 gr.) Is also added;
  2. Another pest that loves to settle on barberry bushes is the flower moth. Its caterpillars eat away fruits. To combat them, you should use solutions of children (0.05-0.1%) and chlorophos (0.1-0.3%);
  3. Most often, gardeners, when growing barberry of the Admiration variety, can meet with a fairly common disease of shrubs - powdery mildew. This is a fungal disease, which is manifested by the appearance of a white powdery coating on either side of the leaves, on the shoots and fruits. Spores spread very quickly and, when treated, quickly infect the entire bush. For treatment, you can use various solutions: 0.5% colloidal sulfur, sulfur-lime broth or a mixture. The treatment of the affected plant begins after the leaves bloom and is carried out with regularity in 2-3 weeks. The most affected areas of the bush should be cut and burned;
  4. Also, a disease such as rust can affect the leaves of a plant. In the spring, after the leaves bloom, bright orange spots appear on their surface, and bulges appear on the lower side in this place. It is possible to cope with the spread of spores of this fungus by spraying with Bordeaux liquid (1%) or a solution of colloidal sulfur (1-1.5%). Treatment begins after the leaves have bloomed, it is repeated every 20 days.

Advantages and disadvantages

Barberry Admiral, despite the short period of germination on Russian territory, quickly won its place of honor in landscape design. Many masters use it to create their compositions. This high prevalence is due to the fact that the plant has many advantages:

  • attractive appearance;
  • endurance to the harsh Russian climate;
  • frost resistance;
  • ease of pruning when forming bushes;
  • unpretentious care;
  • good indicators of resistance to dry periods.

Pruning a bush

Barberry Thunberg Coronita

As the main disadvantage of the plant, a very small growth should be noted.

Interesting fact. With the organization of proper care with sufficient nutrition and watering, the annual growth of the bush will not exceed 20 cm.Therefore, it will take several years to get the desired shape and size.

As you can see, the use of a beautiful ornamental shrub Admiration is an ideal solution when decorating a personal plot.

An incredibly beautiful bush will decorate any place, but it does not require complex maintenance. Even a novice gardener is able to cope with the cultivation of this variety of barberry.