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The enthusiasm for planting ornamental shrubs by amateur gardeners was especially reflected in the Thunberg barberries. The variety of varieties allows you to intertwine different sizes and colors to embody all kinds of fantasies in landscape design. Barberry Maria deserves special attention with its combination of bright yellow and red colors.
Description of barberry Thunberg Maria
The ornamental thorny shrub Barberry Thunberg Maria was bred by Polish breeders with qualities that allow the plant to live peacefully almost throughout Russia. It is considered one of the most unpretentious and frost-resistant of the Barberry family. Description of barberry Maria allows you to highlight it in the photo among other varieties of Thunberg:
- the maximum growth in adulthood is 1-1.5 m;
- the columnar crown is formed by erect stems and dense foliage, reaching a width of 0.5 to 1 m;
- leaves are rounded, slightly oblong, large. Change color during the growing season and from spring to autumn. They turn from pinkish-yellow to bright yellow with a dark red border, and in October they turn the bush into an orange-red pillar;
- flowers are small, like balls, yellow and frequent, bloom in May, surrounding the whole bush with a delicate halo, have a pungent smell;
- fruits are oblong, bright red, ripen in October and hang on the branches for a long time;
- the root system is small, with one main root and numerous branching lateral processes;
- annual growth of about 10 cm.
Barberry Maria has a lot of merits, for which he received a prestigious award at the competition. The shrub is not picky about the composition of the soil, drought-resistant, winter-hardy, perfectly tolerates urban conditions. In the spring you can admire its many flowers, in the summer it is impossible to take your eyes off the golden yellow leaves with a red border. In the fall, bright red berries are added to the outfit.
The stable dense crown of Maria barberry allows you to cut it, giving it any shape. And the bright colors of the leaves can be compared in their attractiveness to flowers. With age, the crown becomes spreading, fan-shaped.
Barberry Maria in landscape design
The main purpose of most Thunberg varieties is decorative. The variety of foliage colors and shapes of these shrubs allows you to create a picturesque picture in the garden from only barberries. The variety of barberry Thunberg Maria in landscape design will revive any area with its golden color. It can be planted singly or in a dense tree-shrub composition, creating a mixborder.
The alternation of ribbons from different varieties of barberry of various lengths allows you to literally draw unique living patterns. Barberry Thunberg Maria in the photo looks great when planting an edge, an alpine slide, creates an accent in combination with conifers and herbaceous plants. The upright stems and dense crown seem to be specially designed to form a hedge.
Planting and caring for barberry Thunberg Maria
Adapted to Russian climatic conditions, the Maria barberry variety does not require special conditions for planting and caring for it. The planting procedure is carried out in the same way as with other barberries.You just need to know that this variety does not like a lot of water, and it needs feeding, pruning, loosening and mulching for lush and beautiful growth.
Seedling and planting plot preparation
Before planting barberry Maria in a permanent place, pay attention to the condition of the roots. If they are dry, the seedling is immersed in water for several hours. If a bush is planted from a container with a fertile mixture, it is first taken out together with the earth so that it does not crumble, and moistened with water.
All representatives of the Barberry family love sunny places. The Thunberg Maria variety is no exception, although it was bred for more severe climatic conditions. The most favorable for him will be a site that is lit by the sun almost all day and without strong drafts.
Barberry Maria grows better on light, well-drained soils without stagnant groundwater. When waterlogged, the roots of the bush can rot. Before planting, dig up the area to remove weeds and loosen the soil. If it is very acidic, add lime (300 g per bucket of water) or wood ash.
Planting barberry Thunberg Maria
If the Thunberg Maria barberry is planted to form a hedge, then there should be 4 seedlings per 1 m. A single planting should allow the bush to fully open its crown, so only 1 bush is planted per 1 m. In a group planting, the place for this variety should be between 0.5 and 0.7 m in size.Algorithm:
- For one bush, a hole is dug 0.4x0.4x0.4 m in size.If a hedge is planted, you can immediately dig a trench for all the seedlings.
- Drainage is poured at the bottom from what is at hand: coarse sand, broken brick, rubble, etc., in order to exclude stagnation of water in the root system.
- A planting substrate is prepared from sand, sod land, humus in approximately different proportions. The pit is half covered with substrate.
- They put the seedling in the center of the pit, add the fertile mixture to the level of the entire plot and tamp it.
After the earth subsides, they fill it up to the required level and mulch the trunk circle with wood shavings, small decorative stone, and dry grass.
Watering and feeding
The variety of barberry Thunberg Maria does not like a lot of moisture, so it is watered as needed and no more than 1 time a week, along the near-stem circle under the root, trying not to get on the foliage.
This crop is undemanding to fertilizers. After planting in a fertile mixture, you need to feed it with mineral complexes for the 2nd year. If the soil on the site is fertile, then it is enough to apply fertilizers once every 2-3 years.
Pruning
If the shrub is grown singly and shaping of the bush is not expected, then only sanitary pruning is carried out in the spring. Frozen branches are removed, as well as dry and diseased stems.
When forming a hedge from Maria barberry or to give a bush with its yellow foliage a certain shape, pruning should be carried out 2 times a year:
- At the beginning of June;
- in August.
Preparing for winter
Barberry Maria belongs to winter-hardy shrubs and is almost completely preserved in severe frosts down to -300C. This variety does not require special shelter. Gardeners of the Northern regions advise young bushes to cover the first 2 years for the winter:
- spruce branches;
- fallen leaves;
- wrap with burlap.
Reproduction
For the first planting, it is better to buy seedlings in containers with a fertile substrate in a specialized store and plant them in the spring, when the ground warms up. And then you can already propagate the Thunberg Maria barberry by seeds, green cuttings or by dividing a bush.
Seeds are planted both in the fall before the first frost and in the spring. Autumn sowing is done according to the scheme:
- Seeds are collected, squeezed, washed, dried.
- Prepare a garden bed - loosen, watered.
- Deepen the seeds with your finger 2-3 cm into the soil.
- Cover with foil until it snows.
For spring sowing, seeds are also prepared until dry in autumn. But before planting in the spring, they must be stratified for 3 months.
Reproduction of barberry Maria by green cuttings is the most common method. For this, young shoots of the current year are cut off from a plant of 3-5 years of age, starting in June. The segments should have 2-3 internodes. They are planted in a greenhouse or directly on the site, observing the temperature and humidity conditions.
To divide the bush, a young plant is also chosen - it tolerates this method of reproduction more easily. They dig up the barberry, divide the roots with pruning shears into 3 parts, and plant them in a new place.
Diseases and pests
Barberry Thunberg Maria is considered resistant to various fungal diseases and pests. But in order not to have to get rid of the plant, it is recommended to carry out preventive spraying of the bushes with fungicides in the spring. This helps to avoid such diseases:
- powdery mildew;
- rust;
- infectious dryness.
Barberry aphids can quietly destroy the plant. It is necessary to notice the appearance of this insect in time and spray the bush with insecticides. In general, the barberry Maria does not cause unnecessary trouble due to fungal diseases and is rarely attacked by insects.
Conclusion
Barberry Maria is another striking element in landscape design that no designer or just an amateur gardener will miss, in order to be sure to decorate your site with it. This variety is bred with special resistance to cold winters and cool summers. A little care and attention to this plant will return the pleasure from the beauty that it is able to give.
