How to Prune Berberis by The Gardening Tutor-Mary Frost
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- Опубліковано 14 лют 2016
- This video shows you up close and detailed pruning cuts for Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea'. This is a rejuvenation pruning to stimulate lots of beautiful, purple new stems and clear out the old grey stems. We also show how to stop short of a complete rejuvenation.Berberis have really sharp thorns, so wear leather gloves and safety glasses while working with this awesome plant.
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Thank you. It is so important to find a good video on this plant for me. I have a background in Organic Agriculture and was hired by a city to do landscaping. I may understand plants, but understanding what you are aiming for (skinny at the base, wide at top) and understanding what it is they are SUPPOSED to look like is very very helpful. Most useful video I have found. Thank you. You have a subscriber/fan.
Justin, YOU are a dream come true! How I wish more landscapers would watch my videos. Haha! Thank you for taking the time to watch and post. -mary p.s. you made my day!
Thank you so much for this video. I inherited about 10 Japanese Burberry when I moved in to our new house. Gave away 2. The rest have gone wild. So now I know how to tame them thanks to you.
Thank you! This is the best information I’ve found on trimming my barberry plants. I will save this video for future reference!!
I had a garden class with Mary Frost and she was brilliant! She wastes no time and teaches you things you need to know and does it in a way you can remember.
I'm taking as many classes as I can afford. I highly recommend Mary as a tutor.
Awww! Thank you Babs! :)
Are they Trees or shrubs? Does it grow well in cold climate like Canada? I'd like a maintenance free fence, the thorns are my friends. It will keep the deer out of my garden and the fox out of my chicken coop. Or what do you recommend for a thorn fence. Thanks for your time and opinion
Thank you Mary--definitely helpful and well presented with great explanations! So glad I found you!
You are so welcome Leslianne! Thank you for watching. -mary
Thanks for this thorough explanation. I'll do just this, next year. For now, as my berberis is busy overgrowing other plants, I think i'll take out the oldest stems first, right after it has flowered. I want those gloves, and Thanks for the tip about the safety glasses!
Thank you for watching Els T. and taking time to post. I think I got those gloves from Duluth Trading Company. They are great! The only downside to them is that when your hands sweat the leather turns your hands yellow (but it washes off). Any leather gauntlet gloves will help. -mary
I was at my dentist’s office yesterday and saw this bush in their landscape, but didn’t know what it was called. Then I went to Lowe’s and saw it and noticed it had those vicious thorns. I still didn’t know the name then today I was scrolling through your channel and lo and behold here it is! Thank you! I’m in central California so it definitely grows here.
This was very helpful! Thank you for sharing.
thank you Mary for sharing your knowledge... i'll do mine next spring :)
You're so welcome Francis. Let us know how it goes. -mary
Nice thorough instructions. Thank you
Thank you Judy! -mary
Very helpful- thank you!!!
You're so welcome Helen. thanks for watching and commenting! -mary
Hi, thank you very much for your advices : we juste received old berberis from a relative and didn't really know what we could do with this stuff. Thanks to you we know exactly how to give them a little cure of youngness (sorry for my english, i'm french).
So lovely to hear from you Emilie. Let us know how it goes and thank you for watching! -mary
Thank you. I just planted my Berberis thunbergii Rose Glow and want to keep it size to 3 ft and this was so helpful. I probably would have trimmed the top.
Let us know how it goes! -mary
Thank you for the great demonstration!
Awesome video.
Thank you for watching and your kind comment Monica. Let us know how your pruning turns out. -mary
I truly appreciate this educational video and look forward to pruning 2 large barberry's. Would ninebark be treated in the same manner? Thank you!
thank you great video 😊
You're so welcome Kesha. Thank you for taking time to comment. -mary
Very nice video. I would recommend falconry gloves for this method.
Agreed 10,000 Rambos (great handle). Any leather, gauntlet glove would be great to wear when working with Berberis. I get away with wearing my rubber gloves because I use my pruners to move the stems to my tarp and don't grab them with my hands. Thank you for taking the time to comment! -mary
Thank you for this video Mary, I think I've watched it a dozen times. We purchased our house a couple years ago and the previous owner planted 8 barberries along the fence and they are quite unsightly. I think they may have been shaped into spheres at one time or just badly pruned, their natural growth pattern is long gone. So next year is the year, I'm going to give the full rejuvenation pruning a try!
That's great Nicki! I can't wait to hear how it goes. Remember, you can prune out some of the oldest, fattest stems right to the ground. They are going to be so beautiful! After you prune them they may sit there for 6 to 8 weeks until weather warms up but then....wow! Thanks for posting! -mary
Quick question - would I be okay with transplanting and doing rejuvenation pruning at the same time? These are Pygmy barberries if that matters. I also live in Colorado with scorching hot summers and cold snowy winters. Thanks a bunch!
Hi Nicki, yes pruning and transplanting can be done while the plants are dormant. I can't say what month is best for you because you have snow and I am in zone 9 which gets frost temps but no snow. I prune mine in February about 6 weeks before they start to push new growth. I have had great results pruning the smaller variety berberis too. -mary
@@TheGardeningTutor Thank you! That will make the task a bit more manageable. Depending how the winter goes I'm shooting for late March or early April.
Love, Love, Love your instruction, demonstration and your videographers ability to coincide his camera with your work. Great job!! I'm considering planting crimson pygmy barberry. Would it require pruning similar to this plant. It is supposed to grow about 18 - 24" tall and 3' wide. Thanks for any answers you can provide. I've subscribed to your site.
Thank you so much! Sometimes Crimson pygmy tends to branch from a single trunk so it is pruned a little differently. It can still be shaped though by pruning old stems down to an outward facing bud. If you choose to just do a light pruning you can still look for crossing stems, dead and/or damaged stems and prune those. -mary p.s. feel free to send me a photo of your Berberis (up close to show the branching) on my facebook page: The Gardening Tutor.
Omg! Thank you for this video! My berberis is huge and against my house. (I know nothing about gardening)
I can suggest a lopper for you to try. I’m not affiliated with them at all. I just have a lot of trees.
I bought Fiskars Super Gear 2. Cuts like butter! I love mine! I found them cheaper on the big store online. The big box hardware stores were more expensive. I even got free shipping.
Thank you Sagir32. I appreciate you taking time to watch and to post! I looked up your pruners online. I'm happy when anyone is gardening. My loppers have a very narrow bottom jaw which enables me to get into tight spots that larger profile lopper jaws don't. Also, loppers need to be lightweight for me to use them all day out in the field. I always like hearing about new tools though so thank you so much for letting me know! -mary
Yes, these are definitely not for tight spaces.
Can you do a complete rejuvenation in late April in Wisconsin ?
Oh Janet sorry for late reply. If your Berberis has not leafed out yet you can do the rejuvenation pruning. Otherwise you can leave new stems with their nice purple color and remove some of the old stems to the ground. Let us know how it goes! Thank you for posting. -mary
How often does this have to be done. I just got my first "Rosey" and it is beautiful.
Hi adster, depending on how you want your berberis to grow you may like to just let yours do what it wants and never prune it. I prune mine once a year in February before it pushes new growth in spring because i love the deep purple color of the new stems and I also need to keep mine smaller than it would be if i let it do what it wants. So, once a year when dormant. Thanks for watching. -mary
Thanks for this video! I just put in 34 'Rose Glow' berberis shrubs for a new hedge in the front of my house. They are about 16 inches tall and I would like them to reach 4 feet or so. I haven't decided if I want to have a natural or trimmed look, perhaps somewhere in between. Might you have any pruning advice for a berberis hedge?
Hi Michael, wow 34 that is going to be gorgeous! It will be best if you decide which pruning style you are going to go with because if you want a full hedged look you'll need to start hedging on a regular basis. Many people plant hedge plants and let them grow untrained until they reach the height they want, then they start shearing the top to keep that height. But this makes a buzz cut look of full top growth and spindly stems below the top.
Best practices would be to shear your young plants every time they put on about 4 to 6 inches of growth. This shearing makes the lateral growth beneath the cuts push more growth creating a fuller hedge all the way up. Thank you for watching and posting! Let us know how it goes. -mary
Hi there, thank you for all your insight. I have a couple of spectacular Berberis, that have gotten out of control as I have not pruned enough in the last year. Are there any no-nos when pruning? Can i safely cut large (3/4 inch) grey stems at the base safely without damaging the plant? I'd like to prune in the fall if that is safe. Thanks
Thank you for taking the time to watch Fred. Here in zone 9 I usually allow the berberis to go dormant in winter and prune them in February. You can prune out any of the large stems anytime during the year really to lighten up the plant but for the complete rejuvenation pruning it's best practices to do that just before the plant pushes new growth in spring. If you prune out some old stems now you might like using a sawsall so you can get in there among the stems without damaging the stems you want to keep. Let us know how it goes! -mary :)
This was very helpful. My red rocket barberries are only 2 years old and have very thin branches much smaller than a pencils width with very dense growth with the beaches very close together.. Can I cut them down to the ground as you demonstrated? And what time is best? Before or after last frost date? Thank you for your help.
Hi Donna, I'm glad you asked because not all Berberis respond well to hard pruning all their stems. But 'Red Rocket' is a thunberii like the 'Atropurpurea' in the video. I prune mine in February before we are out of frost season and it sits there until it knows when to push new growth. With 'Red Rocket' though (since I have not worked with this one) I would only prune down half of the stems this year and see how it responds. Plus, I do not have to do a hard pruning of every stem every year. I only need to do that to keep mine smaller. You will get nice, new stems that have beautiful color from the hard pruned stems. Also, each year you can just pick a few (maybe one in 4) of the old stems and cut them out. Feel free to ask me if this wasn't a clear description. Thank you for watching! -mary
How can I cultivate wild barberry in Ky. The red berries are on the trees in the woods beside my house.
Great Video. Can I do this trim now in the late summer/early fall? I live in Illinois.
Hi Kevin, Thank you for asking. Here in California I leave the dormant stems until late January or February which is about 8 weeks before the plant is going to push new growth. With the snow and all, I'm not confident in telling you to prune now. That being said, I realize that many gardeners in the East still prune many of their perennial plants hard at this time of year. If you have more than one Berberis, I would sure love it if you did an experiment with pruning one now and leaving the other and letting us all know how it goes. All the Best -mary
P.S. This video shows a total rejuvenation pruning. This is not needed every year unless you are trying to manage the size of the plant. You can certainly prune out some of the older stems now to clean up your Berberis and create better air circulation. :)
Hi Mary, just curious, since the Berberis can be cut down pretty severely, would it be OK to just use hedge trimmers for a complete rejuvenation? Rather than using the long handled clippers?
Did you get my call back Linda? Thank you for taking the time to call and write! The timing of hard pruning your Berberis is important-a month or so before the plant will push new growth in spring. You'll need to adjust to your gardening zone. Yes, you could use a hedge trimmer for the first cut but I suggest that you then go in and clean up those ragged cuts with your sharp pruners and loppers. You'll want to remove some of the oldest and thickest stems right to the ground (this makes room for all the beautiful new growth that this type of pruning will encourage). New stems are nice and purple and old stems are beige in color. Do your best to prune to outward facing buds. If you only cut it all down with the hedger (depending upon the size of your plant) you might encourage a congested plant-encourage good air circulation by taking out at least one in 5 or so of the older stems. Make sense? -mary p.s. you could certainly do an experiment by using the trimmers only this time and cleaning up the plant more the next year. You can do it!
Hi, Mary.
I’ve been following your technique and couldn’t be happier with the results.
I’ve been considering trimming three Crimson Pygmy 6year old plants that I have. Been a little nervous to experiment with them because they aren’t getting the full amount of required sun. I’m chomping at the bit with them! What do you think? Any difference?
Hi Chrrypartait41, I'm so happy to hear of your good results with Berberis thunbergii! Yes, the Crimson Pygmy variety seems to be a single trunk plant most of the time and doesn't grow all the new stems from the ground that B T does. So, you are correct to think the pruning will be adjusted. I usually prune pygmy lightly each year, meaning I prune the stems low in the framework but i'm not pruning out as many stems as I do with B T. the lack of sunlight is important, as you already know. Pygmy usually ends up keeping a framework of the older beige colored stems with the new mahogany colored stems growing from there. I wish we could work in person, it's a little difficult to explain well here. Please, ask me to clarify if I didn't explain this well. ok? Let us know how it goes. -mary
The Gardening Tutor
Thank you for your response. I think I understand and will just keep up with the stragglers. I’m glad I didn’t tackle it like the others. 😅
Thanks, again!
If I were to cut this bush down just how long would it take to grow back? I've got 3 altogether and the other 2 are planted in a different area and they need more cut off of it.
It depends on your weather. When i prune mine in February while it's dormant, it sits there quietly until it warms up and thenstarts pushing growth like crazy. By May it is full and beautiful again. -mary
How tall will this get at the end of the next growing season? Love this video!
Thanks for posting Wendy and watching! The Berberis in the video grows to about 4 feet tall and as wide in the same year it's pruned hard like that. -mary p.s. it is thunbergii 'Atropurpurea'.
@@TheGardeningTutor Great video and explanations. I know you know what you are talking about, but it seems impossible that it will grow 4’ in a year. I’ll have to wait til Feb to prune and will find out in a year!
The pruning of this Berberis is for Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea'. If you have the smaller Berberis varieties then you are correct that they would not grow 4 feet in a year because that is not their nature. -mary (liar, liar, pants on fire - :)
Thanks for sharing I am probably too late for thi year.
Thank you for commenting Around the House- You are probably right about being too late for a complete rejuvenation if your Berberis has already pushed growth this spring; however, you can still do some pruning. It depends upon your intention, if you'd just like to clean up a large, old plant (letting in better light and removing old greyish brown stems), you can still prune out completely some of the oldest stems (right to the ground). Be extra careful pulling out the cut stems to avoid breaking the beautiful new growth that you plan to keep. You may need to make the first cut at ground level and then cut the stem into pieces to get it all out without damaging other stems. -mary p.s. before you make the first cut at ground level, grab that stem with your lopper and shake it to see if removing it will cause a huge, unsightly hole in your plant or will create the more open form you desire. :)
Uh, oh! 🤦♀️ I may have jumped the gun performing my rejuvenating prune today... the weather was somewhat comfortable and I was out doing maintenance. Even pulling weeds! I’m in Southern Ohio. We haven’t seen the worst of winter yet and after watching your video again (looking for what to do for the second year for two of my other beriberi) I see I clearly goofed, since you mentioned 6-8 weeks before growth flushes.
What do you think might happen now?
oh, I know how this feels Cherrypartait41. Hopefully the berberis will just sit there and take the winter cold and then sprout new growth when it knows it's time. Can you mulch thickly around the plant (not up to the base-you'll want to taper down as you get about 6 inches from the trunk)? Mulching thickly (about 5 inches on top of soil) will help keep your Berberis roots warmer. I'll wonder about your results so please let us know how it goes! -mary p.s. it's been so warm and springlike here in Sonoma County Zone 9 that I have put off pruning roses when there are just a few roses in a garden. I'm waiting until 3rd or 4th week in January.
Great guide on [pruning these little devils.
Oh, that's a great name for them! Haha. Thanks for posting DeanoRav. -mary
If it’s a lot can I use a petrol hedge trimmer now in September
Just seeing this post now. Sorry for the late reply. gas hedge trimmers can make a bit of a mess out of the cuts. If you have to use one, make clean cuts to as many stems as you can after you cut the bulk out with the hedger. The best time for this type of pruning is after the Berberis has gone dormant for awhile. That's February here in zone 9 (Sonoma County, CA). Also, remove to the ground several of the oldest (maybe one in four or five) stems. Thank you for asking! -mary
Will these techniques work the same for my light green colored barberry? I have a row of 6 of them but not as a hedge but they are close together. Thank you!
Just seeing this post now Nancy. Sorry for the late reply. If your green Berberis has multiple stems coming from ground level this technique should work. If it has a single trunk with multiple branching then prune stems down to 3 sets of nodes or so. You can do a sample the first time by only shortening about 40 percent of the stems to make sure they will come back well. Thank you for watching! -mary
@@TheGardeningTutor Thank you…my bushes have many stems growing from the ground. Do I remove about 30% of them and then can I also shorten the remaining stems thanks again!
@@nancynowak500 yes, when the plant has been dormant for awhile (Feb here in Sonoma County) you can remove some of the oldest stems to the ground and shorten the remaining stems. -m
My plant has a lot of dead on it. In fact, I thought it was completely dead because my yard was hit with a lot of whiteflies last late summer and they destroyed other plants. I'm not sure if these whiteflies did the harm to my bush I just cut out today. It has come out and is full of purple leaves now. When is a good time to shape it?
You can prune out dead anytime of year. Ideally, rejuvenation pruning is done when Berberis is dormant and has no leaves. I wish i could see your plant in person so i could advise better exactly what to do now. You could shorten any stems that are too long for you, cut them down to 2 inches (to an outward facing bud-like in my video). Since it's already pushing growth allow the young, shorter stems to grow in without pruning. Hope this helps. -mary
Great video! Is it too late to cut back the bush now? (In Massachusetts) thanks!
Thank you! As long as your berberis has not pushed all its leaves you can get out there and prune it down. If you are just planning to prune out a few stems, you can do that at anytime of the year. -mary
I just cut two of mine like this yesterday in northern CT, hopefully it turns out well!
Please, let us know how it goes. When the leaves start growing in give it showers from the hose about 3 times a week if you don't have any rain. -mary
I live in NJ. I have about 4 of these plants in front of the house; they were small when we first saw the house and moved in. Now they seem to have grown awful lot to the sides. One of them looks very gray on the inside. The growth comes from the middle of the stems. Can these be pruned in January/February? I want to do full rejuvenation. I have no green thumb and I am afraid it will die once I do this. Thank your for your help.
Thank you for watching Michelle. The gray is concerning. You mean the leaves are gray? Berberis are pretty insect and disease free but gray could be a fungal disease. Without being there to see it in person I cannot say for sure though. You could do a little test pruning (just prune a few stems on each plant-or one plant) now to see if you get new growth. I don't know about NJ but here in Sonoma County August is a big pruning time for many plants because they will give one more push of growth now and pruning creates fullness for a great fall show in the garden. I'm not saying to cut the whole plant now. Just do some test cuts to improve your confidence for the process.Then just before leaves push in spring you can prune more. You can do rejuvenation pruning in stages instead of all at once if you like. This will help you learn how your plants will respond. Let us know how it goes! -mary P.S. Anytime pruning is done to encourage new growth plants will do better with increased water for a couple of weeks to get that new growth going.
The Gardening Tutor thank you so much Mary! The gray branches look more dry than fungus. So maybe it needs some “love” and trimming down some stems will help it. I will be cutting a few inches from the one bush and see how it goes. I will keep you posted. Thank you!
Berberis thunbergii is a very troublesome invasive plant in North America.
When a berberis is 6ft tall and been 'shaped' into boxes etc, how much can i take off the height?( Its also an evergreen one)
Hi Ann, sorry for the wait for a reply. Without seeing this it's hard to say exactly but you can try cutting some of the stems down to 3 inches high or lower and see how they fill in. Best to prune Berberis in dormant season (here in Zone 9 I prune in Feb). But i have had success hard pruning Berberis in summer with regular showers from the hose 2 or 3 times a week for about 2 weeks after pruning. If you prune it now and have good regrowth from the stems you cut low you could prune the rest to create a whole new plant. Please, let us know how it goes. -mary
When is the best time of the year to prune a barberry bush?
Sorry for the late reply, been working alot! For the complete rejuvenation pruning it' s best to do this in the dormant season, just before new growth pushes in spring. Here in Sonoma County i prune berberis in February. For shaping cuts I prune those anytime of year that a stem here or there needs to be thinned out or pruned down to an outward facing bud. Thank you for watching! -mary p.s. I did do one pruning job in mid summer and with added waterings they came back well but when dormant is best. -mary
One question-- can this be pruned early spring (April--zone 4/5) safely? When is truly the best time of year to prune?
Thank for asking LaRueOBR. If your plant is still leafless and has not pushed spring growth yet then this is the perfect time to prune for your plant. If it has already pushed lots of new growth for 2018 and you were wanting to do a complete rejuvenation pruning than wait until next year because it may not fill in again after already pushing all its growth. If it has pushed growth but you still want to remove some of the old stems to the ground you can still do that, leaving some of the younger stems that have already pushed and look good. Let me know if you need more clarity. -mary
The Gardening Tutor There is no spring growth as of yet 👍 My family just moved in to our new home and the previous owners neglected alot of the pruning. I'm happy that it looks like I've timed it perfectly. Thanks for the quick response and sharing your knowledge.
are the older stems dead? or are they just not as pretty and in the way of the new growth?
Hi Frank, Thanks for writing. Yes, the older stems are still alive and will still push lots of growth. Over time though the older stems really can distract from the beautiful purple new stems of this plant. Also, leaving Berberis ungroomed means it will keep pushing growth taller and taller and become a size you may not like. Some gardeners never prune their Berberis because they want a habitat plant (meaning they want nooks and crannies for birds and other wildlife to hide in). The Berberis in the video is groomed lightly each year for good form (encouraging a fountain shape-skinny at the bottom and vase shaped). I need to keep this plant no larger than 4 feet tall by about 5 feet wide so I prune it all the way down every other year. Hope this helps. Feel free to ask anytime. -mary
heloo! im new subcriber.
really liked ur video . i want to grow berberis. could u tell me abouth its plantation process plx
Hi Zahida, I'm not sure what you are needing to know but most important when working with Berberis is to wear thick gloves (i prefer leather) and long sleeves and eye protection because Berberis have such sharp thorns! -mary
@@TheGardeningTutor mam i want to grow the whole berberis plant .. SO kindly give some instruction abouth how to grow berberis at home
@@zahidabatool6802 Grow berberis outside in full sun if possible. They can grow well in bright shade too.
@@TheGardeningTutor thanx mam
I want to know more, abouth growing process .. LIKe duration ,max growth or height , is it possible to grow on mountaneous area or plane very hot area ?
When is the best time to do this in zone 5?
Hi Timothy, generally the best time to prune Berberis is while it's dormant but just about to push leaves in a few weeks. I'm not up on the weather in zone 5. Even if you wait and just see that buds are swelling and going to start leafing out, you could prune it then. Let us know how it goes. Thank you for watching! -mary p.s. you can shape any wayward branch at anytime during the growing season.
I'm in zone 5 also and will start pruning mine this weekend. I did this a couple years ago around the same time, no issues.
Thank you Nicole! -mary
I am so confused about when to do a major pruning on my Golden Barberry bushes. I was all set to prune today, March 8, and then I read all the comments and now that seems too early. We live in lower Michigan on Lake Michigan, zone 6. Should I aim for late March or maybe early April? Why is it a bad thing to prune too early? Do the ends of the branches die back? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks so much!!
Hi Nancy, oh I totally understand how confusing pruning can be. I prune mine in February here in zone 9 and it sits there until it is ready to push new leaves and stems, which can be several weeks. The one downside to pruning too soon is that if the plant starts to push growth when super cold temps are coming the cold could kill the young leaves and the plant may not push again from that node on the stem.
One sure way to know when to shape your Berberis is to wait until you see just a little bit of new growth. The reason for pruning while dormant is to make sure it's pruned before new growth pushes (job done and no need to watch for tiny new growth).
I'm not trained for gardening in your zone but my sister in law in zone 5 had to wait much longer than me to prune many of her plants.
The Berberis you have is more of a compact form and may not need the pruning that i show in my video. You may get away with just pruning out some of the oldest stems to allow more light through the stems you left unpruned.
I'm all for experimenting and sometimes prune when I have time and let nature take its course. Plants are pretty smart and usually know when it's time to push (pruned or not).
Gawd, i hope I didn't make you feel worse. -mary
Thank you so much for your quick and helpful response! Here is what happened. In the front of our house, there are 6 bushes on each side of the steps which are in the middle of the front of the house,. When we moved here about 20 years ago, there were Van Houtte Spirea bushes on one side and the Golden Barberry on the other side. Last spring, we dug out the Van Houtte bushes and replaced them with 6 new Golden Barberry bushes. I am hoping to prune the older barberry bushes so they will not grow so far forward and also make them a bit shorter so the two sides would look more similar.. I like a little space in front of the bushes because I have a few miniature roses in front of the barberry bushes. The side where the older ones are have a sidewalk there too but the other side doesn't have a side walk so there is plenty of room to move plants forward.. My idea was to prune some growth in front of those buses to the ground and to prune them down a little so the two sides would look more similar. I wish I could send you a photo. Since the bushes are close to the house and the weather is modulated here by Lake Michigan and Lake Macatawa, everything grows pretty well here. I am in my 80s now, but I am still pruning and growing all kinds of plants inside and out! Thanks again for your help. Do you have other videos or a website? I always want to keep learning.
It's great to hear you are still outside and going strong! Yes, i have a great, monthly newsletter you may like. You can subscribe on my website thegardeningtutor.com
It sounds like you could prune some of those front facing stems right down to below ground to reduce the chances of them growing back and still have a nice shape. I'm also on facebook as The Gardening Tutor and Pinterest and Instagram, ha! Up in the top right of my UA-cam channel you should see some icons that link you to my other platforms.-mary
the icon links are on the gardening tutor homepage on youtube www.youtube.com/@TheGardeningTutor(in the bottom right of the photo).
thought it was evergreen; guess not. thank you for your work.
Is she doing this in late fall or early spring? She did not specify..
Thanks for asking David. By "she" I think you mean me. :) When Berberis is dormant I prune them and sometimes do the complete rejuvenation pruning. February is the best time to do that here in zone 9. If the plant has wayward stems during the active growing period, I prune that stem back to its origin (a thinning cut) or cut it about 3 inches from the ground just above an outward facing bud (a heading cut). -mary
@@TheGardeningTutor thank you. I am in zone 3 to 4 primarily. I live in the Atlantic coast in New Brunswick Canada. Last fall I did absolutely nothing to it..did not even cover it to protect it from the snow. It is beautiful right now but the pinkish out growths are getting quite long. I am wondering if I should trim those shorter in late fall and would it be better to loosely wrap the entire bush for protection from the snow?
Thank you for commenting David and telling me where you're from, that is so cool! Berberis thunbergii (like the one in the video) is hardy to zero ferenheit and you had good luck not covering last year so it seems like it doesn't need it. I am not in snow country though so can't say for sure, i can only go by your experience so far. As to the pinkish out growths....are you talking about the shoots that are variegated pink? Those are very annoying. Usually it is variegated plants that have solid green shoots that means the plant is trying to revert to the mother plant but the last two years I have seen many of these Berberis doing the opposite and putting on variegated shoots. Remove these right away, if you can. Otherwise the whole plant may turn variegated. Mine has never done this and I have a feeling people are being sold a Berberis that is not really Berberis thunbergii 'Atropurpurea' but another variety or species. Hope this answers your question. If not, please clarify for me. -mary
What happens if a child gets a thorn in them..... My son got a Thorn as he was trying to get a ball out of the bush
oooh, poor boy. :( I can empathize with how painful those thorns are. People can be allergic to the most unusual things. Seek medical help if needed. That being said, the pain from a berberis thorn going in can last for up to a day in my experience but I haven't had an allergic reaction. Best -mary
The Gardening Tutor think I'll take him to the doctors as he came out in a rash on his arms and legs..... But thank you for the help.... I appreciate the reply...... I've subscribed to your channel as a thank you..... 👍👍
I will be thinking of your son until I hear how it goes James. -mary Thank you for subscribing.
Hope all is well James.
The Gardening Tutor sorry forgot to reply... Took him to the doctors and they give me cream to rub on the rash..... He's doing great now.... Thanks 👍
Prune? How about getting a flame thrower and burning them down to the ground. I hate those plants.