Barberry Bagatelle - description, planting and care

Picturesque shrubs that adorn garden plots often serve as vegetable hedges and even borders. Barberry is attractive for its brightly colored, multi-colored foliage and sour berries, rich in vitamins used in folk medicine and suitable for delicious home preserves. Shrub cultivation is not difficult and does not take much time. One of the most popular varieties in Russia is the Thunberg Bagatel barberry, which differs from other species in its small size. It matches the exact translation from French: the name means "trinket".

Description Barberry Bagatelle

The plant is a dwarf shrub in the form of a compact ball up to 30 cm high and 60 cm in diameter with a red-brown bark with thorns and small leathery oblong foliage covered with a dense shiny skin. The color of leaves in the sun is usually purple or deep red, in a shaded place - with a green tint. Often the sheets are covered with contrasting spots or surprise with relief edging. In autumn, they become bright carmine, and in winter, the bush loses its foliage.

Design

The shrub blooms in late spring - early summer with miniature yellowish flowers, grouped in inflorescences. Fruit ripening occurs in September. The elongated edible berries of the Bagatelle Thunberg barberry, covered with a shiny skin, have a pleasant sour taste.

Red

Planting a plant

Ornamental shrub is unpretentious to growing conditions, does not require special care, is not afraid of wind and sun.

When to plant

The time for transferring barberry to the site is chosen depending on the state of the planting material. A bush bought directly in a container with soil can be transplanted at any convenient time, even in summer. At the same time, it is essential to pay attention to the main points:

• it is advisable to transplant in cool weather;
• at first, the young bush should be shaded from the direct rays of the sun.

Saplings of Berberis thunbergii, removed from the soil, are usually transplanted outdoors in early spring, when the buds have not yet begun to bloom. It is not recommended to plant at a later date, so that the plant takes root better and does not hurt.

Wild growing

Site and soil selection

Thanks to the unpretentiousness of the Tunberga barberry, it feels equally well:

• in low-lying valleys;
• under the cover of fences;
• in the light shade of trees;
• on blown heights.

Shade placement is favorable for species with green-yellow leaves that cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Red-leaved varieties, on the other hand, need good lighting. Without it, they will lose their picturesqueness.

Barberry Bagatelle is able to take root in almost any soil, except for acidic ones. It takes root even on sandy and rocky soil, but prefers fertile neutral soil, which should certainly be limed on the eve of transplanting a bush into it. It is best to pre-pour substances that reduce the acid composition of the soil directly into the hole dug out for the bush.Experienced gardeners advise planting a plant in a substrate consisting of sod land, supplemented with:

• sand;
• humus (or compost);
• 200 g of calcium oxide hydrate (slaked lime);
• 200 g of peat (or wood ash);
• superphosphate (100 g).

The shrub does not tolerate high humidity, it will not feel comfortable on swampy, flooded lands or in places with closely located groundwater. In such cases, usually high flower beds or ridges are poured to breed barberry. In alumina, planting holes are dug 10 cm deeper, and the bottom is covered with drainage pebbles.

Fencing

How to plant accurately

Holes measuring 40x40 cm are dug in advance - 15-20 days before planting. Due to the rapid growth of shrubs, they are placed at a minimum distance of one and a half meters. When constructing a living fence, the gap can be reduced to half a meter. During planting:

1. Drainage and sand are poured at the bottom of the hole.
2. The pit is filled with the prepared nutrient mixture.
3. Moistened generously with moisture.
4. A plant seedling is placed in the hole.
5. Gently spread the roots.
6. Fill up the remaining soil.

Experts suggest mulching the near-stem circle with peat or compost to create favorable conditions for a young bush - to retain moisture and nutrients.

How to care for barberry Bagatelle

The ornamental shrub is famous for its undemanding nature, however, there are certain subtleties of care, without which it is impossible to achieve its magnificent appearance.

Border

Watering

Irrigation for shrubs is required only in hot times. A lack of water is better for him than too much water. In cool weather, the bushes have enough natural precipitation. In the hot season, a bucket is enough for each bush twice a month. Immediately after planting the bagatelle barberry, according to the description of professionals, it is necessary to moisturize until complete rooting from 1 to 2 times a week.

In the process of watering, you must try to prevent moisture from getting on the foliage, but directed under the roots. Experienced gardeners arrange drip irrigation for barberry.

Top dressing

The shrub responds well to feeding, although fertilizers are not required in the first 2 years - there are enough ones introduced during planting. In the spring, during the period of rapid growth and flowering, it needs nitrogen. To do this, dilute 30 g of the product in a 10-liter container. The procedure is repeated every 3 or 4 years. Phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied in the summer, when fruit is set, and in the fall, after ripening and harvesting.

Pruning

Like all ornamental shrubs, the Bagatelle barberry should be trimmed to:

• preservation of the spherical shape;
• growth stimulation;
• elimination of dry shoots;
• increasing yields.

The compact shape of the hedge plant eliminates the need for pruning for a beautiful shape. Growing bushes singly are usually shaped like a ball. In the spring, they carry out sanitization, removing dry, frozen and diseased stems. Formative circumcision is required twice a year, in June and August. Remove one third to 2/3 of the stem length.

Globular

Flowering period

The bagatelle barberry blooms in May or June with numerous small yellowish flowers up to 1 cm in diameter, collected in racemose inflorescences. The shrub is covered with them for 3 weeks, but usually they are hardly noticeable among the lush crown.

Reproduction methods

The shrub is bred in four main ways:

• seed;
• cuttings;
• dividing the plant;
• using layering.

The seeds are harvested from the fruit after ripening. Autumn bones:

1. Extracted from berries.
2. Place in potassium permanganate for 2-3 minutes.
3. Dry.
4. They are sown into the ground to a depth of 1 cm.

In the spring season, the first shoots appear. After the appearance of two true leaves, they must be thinned out, leaving a gap between the seedlings of at least 3 cm. After 2 years, the shrubs are transplanted to a permanent place.

Seed breeding is time and labor intensive.

With the cuttings propagation method, which is best done early in the morning, the processes:

1. Chopped from a bush in June horse.
2. Tear off the bottom leaves.
3. Dip the tips of the branches into a growth stimulating agent.
4. After washing, it is placed in a nutrient substrate.

For the rooting of sprouts, it is necessary to maintain the moisture content of the soil and the greenhouse environment, covering it with a film. From time to time it needs to be opened slightly for ventilation. After 2 years, the young bush is transplanted to a permanent place.

The simplest way to breed barberry is by layering. To get them in the spring:

1. Dig a superficial groove next to the bush.
2. The strongest lower shoot is bent down and placed in it.
3. Fill the ditch with soil.

One tip will remain on the surface. During the summer, it will take root. A fresh bush can be transplanted to a permanent site.

The division of the plant is used for low 3-5-year-old bushes with a root collar deepened by 10 cm into the ground. The bush is dug out of the ground and divided into equal parts, carefully separating the roots and trying not to damage them. Sections should be cut with crushed charcoal.

Bagatelle

Diseases and pests

To prevent damage to the Barberry by insects (aphids, caterpillars), it is recommended to inspect the bushes from time to time and treat them with soapy water and 0.3% chlorophos. Prevention of diseases with rust and powdery mildew at the beginning of the growing season consists in spraying with 1% colloidal sulfur and 1% Bordeaux liquid.

Preparing for winter

The shrub is winter-hardy: under the cover of snow, it tolerates frost perfectly, although it is not very comfortable for a long time under the snowdrifts. In the snowless winter, the plant can freeze out. Experienced gardeners advise, just in case, to cover young plants with spruce branches, straw or special cloth. At the end of autumn, it is advisable to mulch the root soil with dry leaves, sawdust, compost.

Flower bed

Use in landscape design

Due to the variety of colors of foliage, you can get all sorts of interesting combinations, turning the site into a real greenhouse. Even an ordinary amateur can handle this task. Barberry Bagatelle is very popular with landscape designers due to its seasonal change in appearance. It is used to design:

• living fences and borders;
• rock gardens and flower beds;
• balconies and terraces;
• group compositions.

Beneficial features

Traditional medicine has been using a plant rich in vitamins since ancient times. Recipes for medicines from the Bagatella barberry are found in Indian, Chinese, and ancient Greek manuscripts. Potions are prepared from bark, roots, leaves, but berries are especially useful. The plant contains:

• pectin, which helps to get rid of toxins;
• vitamin C;
• fruit acids (malic, citric, tartaric);
• serotonin (a chemical mood regulator);
• berberine is an alkaloid with antimicrobial activity.

Multicolored

Herbal remedies are used in the form of decoctions, infusions, teas. The fruits are distinguished by a mass of healing qualities:

• choleretic;
• light laxative effect;
• antipyretic;
• thinning and removing phlegm;
• antiemetic;
• immunostimulating;
• tonic;
• antioxidant;
• antispasmodic;
• pain relievers.

In addition to medicine, the sap of the plant is successfully used in cosmetology to reduce wrinkles and smooth the skin, to care for hair and eliminate dandruff.

Barberry Thunberg, thanks to its picturesque red leaves of different shades and unpretentious cultivation, is successfully used to decorate garden plots and fences. Sour berries, saturated with vitamins, are used to prepare delicious drinks, desserts and traditional medicine.