Barberry Orange Rocket: photos, planting and care, reviews

Barberry is a wonderful unpretentious culture that many landscape designers actively use. In addition to their beautiful decorative appearance, I use barberry berries in cooking and medicine. In this article, you will learn about such a variety as the Barberry Orange Rocket. We will give a detailed description, tell you how quickly Orange Rocket is growing, as well as about the use of this culture in landscape design.

Barberry Thunberg Orange Rocket: variety description

barberry thunberg orange rocket photo

This variety belongs to the Barberry family. It is prized for the color of its leaves and shoots. Young bushes have bright orange leaves. Over time, it turns dark red. This variety is in great demand when decorating plots, due to its decorative qualities.

In natural conditions, the Orange rocket can be found in the mountainous areas of Tibet, as well as in China. In our country, this culture appeared in the middle of the 19th century. Due to its beautiful appearance, at the moment it is often in demand among flower growers. New shoots are usually yellow-orange with a pinkish tone.

This variety of barberry belongs to deciduous shrubs. Growth is not fast enough. The shoots of the plant are directed vertically, rather elastic, have thorns.

The crown has a columnar shape, which reaches a height of about 1 - 1.2 meters, and a width of about four hundred centimeters.

The leaves are medium in size, smooth in texture and oval in shape. As the shrub grows older, the color of the foliage changes. First, green leaves appear, then yellow and orange flowers appear, and in autumn you can observe the appearance of burgundy tones.

The flowers themselves are medium-sized, have a red tone. Flowering usually occurs in late May or early June.

The red berries are elliptical. As a rule, fruits are formed in late August - early September. It is better for a person not to eat them, but birds quite like to feast on them.

Rhizomes have a rather branched shape. Orange roque is not very picky about the composition of the soil. In addition, barberry loves light, copes well with frost, and also adapts well to urban conditions.

Barberry Orange Rocket: characteristics

The orange rocket is a novelty among the decorative forms of the barberry. Shoots are vertical, reaching no more than 1.3 meters in height, and up to six hundred centimeters in width. Young shoots have a red coating, and those that are lignified turn brown.

The leaves are oval and change color. In spring, they have a red or burgundy color, by summer white and pink stains appear, and in autumn they turn orange. Orange Rocket flowers appear in the last days of spring, have a delicate yellowish color. Collected flowers in small inflorescences.

Red berries ripen, as a rule, in early September and are a wonderful decoration throughout the winter. In food, these fruits also cannot be consumed.

The root system is very well developed, so this crop is planted in order to strengthen the ravine, bank or slope.

This variety of common barberry is actively planted in a variety of plantings, both group and single.The height of the Orange Croquet barberry allows you to create a beautiful hedge or plant it in curbs. The variety has a positive attitude towards pruning, both sanitary and anti-aging. If you are growing in cold climates, then do not be alarmed that the plant sheds its leaves during the cold season, this is normal. But on the territory of the southern regions, foliage is not discarded.

Barberry Orange Rocket in landscape design

As an improvement in the decorative appearance of a summer cottage, Russians often use barberry. It can act as a hedge, curb. Barberry can be a great accent on an alpine slide. Barberry Orange rocket looks good as edging in flower beds or other group plantings. It will also become a good neighbor for conifers.

Do not plant this variety near cherries, hazel, elderberry, and acacia. The roots of these crops, as well as falling leaves, have a bad effect on the growth of barberry.

Flowers of this variety bark with a bright pleasant aroma, thereby becoming a bait for insects. For this reason, it is best not to plant the Orange Rocket near living quarters.

How to properly plant and care for an Orange rocket

Barberry Orange Rocket is completely unpretentious. Orange rocket prefers well-lit places, but partial shade is acceptable. Shaded shrubs have green foliage. When choosing a soil, choose a well-drained soil, the level of acidity in this case is not so important. Barberry can easily survive a lack of moisture and dry weather.

The barberry area should be open, with plenty of sunlight. If neighboring plants are supposed to be next to the barberry, then take into account the planting relative to the sun. Place low plants where the sun's rays get the most, beyond the average height of the crop, and only then plant tall, large plants. Such a landing will help the sun's rays to be properly distributed over your plantings.

When choosing soil, give preference to loose, moderately moist soils. Sandy loam and loam are well suited. Slightly acidic acidity is preferred. If you know that the soil has too high a pH level, then it is better to lime the soil. For this purpose, a little slaked lime (400 g) or dolomite flour (500 g) is usually introduced into the planting pit. Add a mixture of wood ash (200g), humus (8-10kg) and superphosphate (100g) there.

When choosing seedlings, it is best to give preference to barberry, which has a closed root system. Such a seedling can be easily planted at any time during the growing season. If the root system of an open-type seedling, then it is better to plant such a plant in the spring, until the buds wake up. If it so happens that the plant for planting is in the growing season, then it is better to plant it in an open area in the fall.

You need to prepare in advance for planting barberry. Prepare planting holes for your plants a couple of three weeks before this. If the barberry will act as a hedge, then dig a trench. Pour sand on the bottom of the dug holes or trenches. This is necessary for better oxygen access to the rhizomes.

Single barberry plants are planted with a distance between plants of about half a meter. Holes are dug to a depth of twenty to forty centimeters. Place the seedling in the hole, sprinkle with fertilized soil, tamp lightly and sprinkle well with water. After that, it will not be superfluous to lay a layer of compost or peat mulch in the area of ​​the trunk circle. Trim the top of the young plant one third of its length.

Freshly planted barberry should be watered about a couple of times a week. But do not overdo it, excess moisture will harm the barberry. If the season is generous with rains, then do not additionally moisten the soil. If the weather is dry, water the plants every week, once will be enough. Remember that the water should not be cold.Pour water under the root system, do not let drips fall on plant foliage.

The orange rocket needs to be watered in moderation, do not overfill the soil.

Under an already mature shrub, fertilizers based on organic matter should be applied in the form of compost, urea, chicken droppings or weed infusion. In one season, you need to make two or three dressings. In the spring, use sodium-based fertilizers, in the summer, phosphates are needed, in the fall, apply potash fertilizers.

Remember to loosen the soil in the trunk circle and remove weeds.

It is very important to prune the barberry on time. Sanitary pruning is carried out in early spring. You need to be in time before the active flow of sap begins. Broken, dry, diseased branches must be removed. For the first time, formative pruning is carried out a year after planting the plants in the ground, in the spring. If you want the branching to be more active, then shorten the shoots in half. Subsequent sampling is carried out two to three times a year, around mid-July.

Orange rocket has a good level of frost resistance, however, if the winter is very cold, then there is a risk that annual shoots will freeze. To prevent this from happening, cover young shoots at low temperatures with burlap. Additionally, you can lay mulch from peat, leaf litter or spruce branches in the trunk circles of barberry. In the fall, you can add superphosphate, this will help the plant to winter better.

Barberry propagates in different ways: dividing the bush, using layering, cuttings, by the seed method. Experienced gardeners prefer to propagate barberry using cuttings. So you will get good strong seedlings, and the varietal characteristics of the barberry will also be preserved.

If you want to use the seed propagation method, then choose the most ripe fruits. Remember that Orange Rocket only produces berries when cross-pollinated. If you plant plants in the fall, then the seeds can be left with the pulp and immediately placed in the holes in an open area. The holes are usually one centimeter deep. There must also be a distance of at least three centimeters between the grains. A young plant has been in the so-called "school" for several years. After that, the barberry is transplanted to a permanent place on the site.

Remember, if you preferred the seed propagation method, then it is not a fact that the varietal characteristics of the barberry will remain. Leaves can always be green.

If you sow seeds in the spring, then you need to carry out the stratification procedure up to six months. The temperature should be between 0 and +4 degrees. The seeds should sprout almost guaranteed.

Among the pests that can harm the Orange rocket, the danger is aphid. Because of it, leaves and young shoots suffer. Experienced gardeners use a solution of green soap to fight aphids.

Fruits can be affected by the flower moth. Against this, you can use "Decis".

Powdery mildew is also dangerous for barberry. It manifests itself in white spots covering foliage, fruits and shoots. Use preparations that contain sulfur in the composition against powdery mildew.

Be sure to remove and burn off shoots and foliage that have been severely infested.

Foliage spotting is also a common problem. The spots come in different shapes and colors. Subsequently, the affected leaves dry out and begin to fall off. Young shoots do not grow, and in winter the plant begins to freeze. Use copper-based preparations against this scourge. Process barberry before and after flowering.

If you see affected shoots, remove them immediately. Of the harmful insects that can harm the barberry, gardeners call the following: barberry aphid (harms foliage, young shoots), barberry sawfly (harms the green part of the plant), flower moth (harms berries).

The moth and sawfly are guaranteed not to survive the treatment of plants with chlorophos (3% solution). A soap-based solution will help get rid of aphids.