Berberis x Ottawensis f purpurea Superba
The Berberis Ottawensis Superba which was in the front garden of our Aberdeen house made a bold statement.
Previously I just let it grow to its own devices, when it reached nine feet tall I decided to shape it up. I know the majority of gardeners may prefer this shrub in its natural form, for the front garden I think it suits the trimmed look.
This variety of Berberis is rather vigorous and would make an ideal barrier to prevent unwanted visitors gaining access to your property, the spiky
stems are lethal.
The leaves of this deciduous shrub start to open in early Spring followed with clusters of small yellow flowers. If you decide not to keep trimming it like I do, you will be rewarded with clusters of red berries in Autumn.
To keep it in this more formal appearance I had to trim it several times throughout the Summer.
It did have a tendency to have an unsightly powdery mildew at times, never did the plant any harm and it may well have been caused with my continual shaping up of it.
•Hardiness *** Fully hardy
•Height *** 270cm/9ft
Plant given the RHS Award of garden merit
________________________
Another Berberis (barberry) that found a place in our Aberdeen garden was, (Berberis Thunbergii Harlequin) an ideal deciduous shrub for adding contrast to the numerous shades of green in the garden border.
This variety has beautiful purple foliage marbled with pink,cream and white, also carries red berries in late Summer early Autumn.
Don’t position Harlequin at the very back of the border, chances are it will struggle to reach four feet in height.
Although very ornamental, beware of the sharp thorns. This Berberis will grow in partial shade, however, colours up best of all in full sun.
Position – Full sun/Partial shade. Any reasonable free draining soil
Height – 120cm/4ft
Hardiness – Fully hardy
______________________________
Finally (Helmond pillar) was another berberis which graced the main border of our back garden.
This one is ideal for the small garden.
The narrow upright habit is very appealing and the maximum height is around 4ft.
Small yellow flowers appear in Spring, but the dark red purple foliage would be the reason you would want this plant in your garden. In Autumn the leaves of this deciduous shrub turn a fiery red.
If it happens to be losing shape it can be trimmed up, there I go again, forever snipping, pruning and hacking away at plants that many of you would leave well alone. Ah well, you are not likely to change me now.
____________________________
Last post I was showing you around the estate where our house is situated, lets have a peek at the old village today.
_________________
These houses are clearly more desirable than the one which we chose on the estate. More expensive, on the other hand we are spending so much on the house of our choice I guess we could have gone for something like the one above. Mind you it would have left the piggy bank rather empty.
____________________
Here we have one of the few pleasant pubs which we have in the village.
__________________
Spent too much time in that pub, ah well you can repent your sins if you feel that way inclined.
_____________________
If your head is still aching then you could well find an understanding doctor in this place.
__________________________
_____________________________
___________________________
__________________________
_________________________
______________________
Shame that a Sainsbury store is opening soon along side the co-op, which gives good service and is well stocked. Perhaps they could improve their window display.
_______________________
If you happen to leave a comment I will be sure to visit your site and do the same
the old village looks very nice Alistair, some parts look picturesque, berberis haven’t done well for me here, yours look very nice, Frances
We can start our very own snipping club Debs. Talking about plants guys!
Your village is completely charming! It seems to have everything necessary for body and soul! As for your snipping habits, I am in that club with you. Pruning is my favorite of all garden chores, and my philosophy is that all plants can benefit from proper pruning. (What is proper pruning? Now that may be debatable!)
Good to see you back Sunil.Soon be time for a visit to the garden centre.
Hi Alistair, some grand houses there with some very characteristic “village” features (the pub, church and Co-op). It has a quaint feel with some lovely old buildings, cobblestone and side streets. It will be interesting to see what the most common garden plants are, e.g. those that do very well for the climate and soil or are sold at ludicrously low prices at the local Garden Centre.
I did feel a bit sick by the time I was trying to imagine half a million. But for a while I told myself ‘if you are dreaming, it doesn’t matter how big you dream’ – and I wanted something old, away from the road, with a big garden, hills easily reachable and a village shop. Of course, it depends quite a lot on which part of the country you are looking in but, even so, I learnt that dreams need to be only a bit beyond reach in order to retain their pleasure.
Gosh, I would have had to stop before I reached the half million mark.
I used to give myself an imaginary amount of money to go window shopping for houses in our local paper. The money I would need for anything approaching my dreams crept up and up. When it reached half a million I could no longer even imagine having so much money to spend so I had to give up and become reconciled to my (housing association) home and stop even imagining I will ever be able to buy one of my own. But still . . . I look at lovely houses . . . in lovely villages . . .
Helene, Harlequin does very well in a container, needs a sunny spot to get best colour.It was about 9.30am when I took the pictures. My daughter seems to think 60% of the population is made up with oldies, however when school comes out some of the roads are choc-a-bloc with cars. Kids have to be careful, whilst collecting my grandson last week we spotted one twelve year old boy being thrown into the air after being hit by a car. We heard later that he got away with bruises only.
Hi Alistair
So nice to see your Berberis Thunbergii Harlequin, I have just bought one! I am planning to grow it in a container with some other plants, and ‘Helmond pillar’ has been on my wish list for a long time but I don’t really have a good place for it so I have managed to resist buying one. It looks lovely on photos though so I might try to grow it in a less ideal space, just because I really want it!
Lovely to see your village and amenities, but when did you take the photos – very early morning? There are absolutely no people around, completely deserted! I can see some cars around but not one person 🙂
Donna, I am itching to get going with the garden although most of the Summer will be taken up with the house extension. Talk of surroundings! well have the rest of you seen where Donna lives. By the way, have you ever heard anything from b-a-g?
Thanks Angie, Myra is on the road to being well once again.
Janet, those Berberis are indeed extremely spiky, surprisingly easy to shape up though.
Thanks Janet, I will check that out.
Holley, a few of the side streets are cobblestone.
What a nice little town. Looks like it has everything one could need. And so picturesque, too. Are those cobblestone streets? I love the look of them! I also love berberis, although I think they have a bad reputation for being invasive. I have never heard of the Helmond pillar. Looks like it would be very useful for some areas. I’ll have to check it out!
PS If you switch to the “text” view when writing your post, after you have added a link, you can insert the rel=”nofollow” into the <a href=".. code.
Hi Alistair, what an attractive village, and quite large too, no wonder you find you have so much in easy walking distance. It was such a pleasure to be able to walk to the dentist the other day, there are so many advantages to living somewhere that you don’t need to drive as much, aren’t there. I agree that the co-op could improve its window display somewhat… I inherited a Berberis purpurea, though it is planted in a daft place, right next to the (narrow) path that leads to the compost bins. Something tells me I will be pruning it regularly to keep it within bounds, though I doubt I will get results as immaculate as yours. They are beautiful plants, if a tad spiky.
You’ve picked a lovely village to call home now Alistair. It looks a nice place to live. I hope Myra is continuing to feel better.
The Berberis Helmond Pillar is one I’ve often looked at but found it hard to visualise in my garden. Thanks to your picture I can see it now. Thanks for the recommendations and btw, I like the Berberis trimmed neatly by the front door, it look wonderful with the lower growing conifer.
I love your neighborhood, all the history, character and that paved street. Great tour. you make me jealous of the pretty surroundings. LOL. Glad you are enjoying your walks. I bet you can’t wait for gardening season.
Yes, I think it smells like cat pee. Thanks for the info on nofollow, I will go take a look.
Hi Alistair,
Enjoyed your pictorial tour round your new village and the Berberis descriptions. I have a specimen of Berberis thunbergii f atropurpurea which has been “let go” and now must be around 9′ tall and is due a chop if I can brave those thorns! It gets mildew every year regardless of the weather and has one attribute I dislike, have you ever noticed the rather off putting scent?
I do not use WP and I am surprised that there is not an option when adding a link to add a “no follow” but if you can access your HTML code I hope this example will explain what you have to do.
………………….href=”http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/”>Plant World
Seeds…………
ADD rel=”nofollow”
………………….href=”http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/”rel=”nofollow”> Plant World Seeds………..
Starting to settle in Carolyn, everything is looking rosier when the sun shines.
What a lovely village, very historic looking and there didn’t seem to be much traffic. I hope you are settling in and am gald you are back to blogging.
Hi Donna
The mountain creek theme was added for 30 minutes as I had screwed up my site by attempting to add css stuff. (I will never) learn, my son in law has got it back to normal. The village does have a very old world appearance.
Wow I love the village…great pub across from a lovely church. I would be watching people from the pub going in and out of the church…a heathen my mom would call me. Such a quaint village that feels homey. Those are large houses indeed. With retirement I want to downsize at some point myself.
I have one barberry left, a purple pillar variety. Here they have become a nuisance and can be quite aggressive due to birds eating and then leaving seed all over. I like the new look of the blog but was unsure what had happened to your blog name. It appears as Mountain Creek.