Wintergreen Barberry Plants

Berberis julianae: Wintergreen Barberry Hedging Plants

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Berberis julianae, known as Wintergreen, Chinese, or Julia's Barberry, is a dense, thorny shrub that makes a strong, impenetrable hedge of up to 3m. Its young leaves unfurl in copper shades and yellow flowers appear in spring, which ripen into black berries. The leaves turn dark green in summer, finishing off the season by turning flame red and orange, staying on the branches until the following spring. The dense growth and long spines make an excellent intruder-proof hedge. It is suitable for any well-drained soil and tolerates dappled shade.

We stock a wide range of berberis hedging or have a look at our full range of hedging plants.

Delivery season: Berberis hedge plants are delivered bareroot during winter (November-March) depending on the weather and pot-grown year-round. Bareroot Barberry bushes are cheaper than pot-grown plants. Pot grown shrubs are available in the largest sizes.

Choosing a size: When you are ordering Berberis julianae for a hedge, we recommend that you use 20/30cm high plants. They are cheaper, easier to handle and will establish well in poor conditions. Use the 40/60cm tall potted plants if you want a mature hedge quickly, and for use as specimens.
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots or pots aren't measured).

Features

• Type: Hedging shrub
• Site: Sun/partial shade
• Area: Coastal, Exposed/Windy, Polluted
• Soil: Any Well Drained
• Leaf Colour: Dark green and copper
• Leaf Type: Evergreen
• Flower/fruit Colour: Yellow flowers, black berries
• Special features: Autumn colour, berries

Growing Wintergreen Barberry

Barberries will grow well in sun or partial shade but you'll get the best flowers and berries in a sunny position. They're great for exposed or seaside gardens, as they will tolerate salt-laden winds. They only don't like a waterlogged site. Great for polluted inner city sites.

Spacing a Berberis julianae hedge: Plant about 50cm apart.

Good in Your Garden

It's rare that you get a secure hedging plant that has interest year-round, but the Wintergreen Barberry offers just that. From its yellow spring flowers and copper-tinted young foliage, summer plants form an excellent green backdrop to the showier stars of your borders. Just as the annuals and hardy perennials are dying off, the fabulous autumn foliage colours kick in and then actually stay on the plant during winter!

Like most of the barberries, its dense stems act as a perfect cover and nesting sites for small garden birds, especially those that nest near the ground, such as wrens.

If you're looking for plants for pollinators, the early single flowers are a vital source of food for bees - they become active if the temperature reaches above 10C, so it's important to have early and late-flowering plants in your garden.

Did You Know?

A native of Central China, this is one of the hardiest barberries, tolerating temperatures as low as -15C. Although the berries are not very visible, blackbirds and thrushes love them, especially when fattening up in autumn.

This species was brought to Britain from China by the prolific plant collector Ernest H Wilson in 1900. It was named by the German botanist Camillo Schneider (1876-1951), after his wife, Julia. Herr Schneider should have gone down in history as one of the 20th century's great Berberis scholars, but his life's academic work and manuscripts were destroyed by Allied bombing in 1943.

Growing Berberis julianae plants:
Grows well in any soil with decent drainage conditions. They are shade tolerant, but they will flower poorly and you won't see such a good autumn colour.
They will not grow well if the site is too wet.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the area where you plant a hedge several months in advance, especially if the soil is poor. Destroy the weeds first. Then dig the soil over; remove rocks, roots and other rubbish. Mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades. If your soil is rich, you don't have to dig it over, but killing all the weeds is still necessary.

Watch our video on how to plant a garden hedge for full details. The plants in this video are delivered pot-grown, but planting out bareroot stock is essentially the same.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.