Shrub
How to grow berberis
Berberis thunbergii / B. darwinii
Berberis grows on almost any soil that is not waterlogged, in sun or part shade, and needs very little attention. Plant between October and March. The main thing to get right is which kind you have: deciduous Berberis thunbergii is grown for leaf colour and wants full sun and an occasional hard prune, while evergreens such as B. darwinii flower on old wood and are trimmed straight after flowering.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil
- Most soils; free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.5
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting berberis
WhenPlant Oct to Mar; flowers Apr to May; trim after flowering or in late summer
Starting off
Plant bare-root B. thunbergii hedging Nov to Mar, or pot-grown stock Oct to Mar; wear gauntlets. Propagate deciduous types by 20 cm hardwood cuttings in Nov in a slit trench outdoors, evergreens by 10 cm semi-ripe cuttings with a heel in Aug to Sep at 15 to 18°C. Seed sown in Oct in a cold frame germinates in spring; B. darwinii self-seeds freely.
Spacing and planting
B. thunbergii cultivars reach 1 to 1.5 m by 1.5 m (dwarf 'Atropurpurea Nana' 60 cm); evergreen B. darwinii 3 m by 3 m, B. × stenophylla 3 m by 3 m. Hedge at 45 to 60 cm spacing in a single row, 3 plants per metre for B. thunbergii; specimens 1.5 to 2.5 m apart. Dwarf B. thunbergii types suit a 35 cm pot.
Varieties worth growing
- B. darwinii
- Evergreen to 3 m with small holly-like leaves, orange flowers in April and May and blue-black berries. The best berberis for an informal flowering hedge.
- B. × stenophylla
- Evergreen with long arching stems wreathed in yellow flowers in spring. Makes a wide, impenetrable hedge where there is room.
- B. thunbergii f. atropurpurea 'Atropurpurea Nana'
- Dwarf purple-leaved dome about 60 cm high, turning red in autumn. For low hedges, edging and pots.
- B. thunbergii f. atropurpurea 'Rose Glow'
- Purple leaves splashed pink and white on the new growth, to 1.5 m. Colours best in sun and after a hard prune.
- B. thunbergii 'Orange Rocket'
- Narrow, upright shrub to about 1.2 m with coral-orange young leaves and red autumn colour. Fits a small border.
Berberis month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Plant bare-root hedging in open weather.
- February
Hard prune deciduous B. thunbergii every three or four years for the best leaf colour.
- March
Finish hard pruning and renovation. Mulch. Last bare-root planting.
- April
Evergreens flower. Light feed for hedges if growth was poor last year.
- May
Trim B. darwinii and B. × stenophylla as the flowers fade, checking for nests. Start looking for sawfly larvae.
- June
Finish trimming evergreens early in the month. Pick off sawfly larvae.
- July
Nothing to do. Water plants in their first summer in drought.
- August
Clip deciduous hedges. Take semi-ripe cuttings of evergreens. Second generation of sawfly.
- September
Berries colour. Nothing to do.
- October
Autumn colour on B. thunbergii. Planting season opens. Sow seed in a cold frame.
- November
Plant bare-root hedging. Hardwood cuttings of deciduous kinds.
- December
Plant in mild spells. Nothing else to do.
Feeding berberis
A light feeder that colours best on lean soil. Most berberis in the ground need nothing; feed only hedges that are clipped every year, plants cut back hard, and those in pots.
Low, undemanding; a light spring feed.
Feeding plan
At planting, October to March
5 g per litre of root ball: 10 g for a 2 litre pot, 15 g for a 3 litre pot. For bare-root hedging allow 2.5 g per plant (about half a litre of root), dusted onto damp roots. Once only.
March, clipped hedges and plants pruned hard
50 g per metre run, half the label's 100 g/m² over a strip 1 m wide, or a small handful (about 25 g) around a single shrub. Follow with a compost mulch.
March, dwarf kinds in pots
2 g per litre of compost on the surface: 30 g for a 35 cm pot holding about 15 litres.
Established shrubs in a border
Nothing
No feed. Extra nitrogen turns purple-leaved kinds green and dulls the autumn colour.
Signs to watch
Purple-leaved types fading to green
Shade or excess nitrogen
Full sun, no feeding, renovation prune in Mar
Yellow leaves on evergreen types on chalky clay in winter
Waterlogging more than hunger
Improve drainage
Older leaves yellow between the veins on light soil
Magnesium short
Epsom salts drench at 20 g per litre
Pests, diseases and problems
Leaves stripped to the stalks in a matter of days in early summer, with pale, black-spotted caterpillars on the shoots
Berberis sawfly, mainly on deciduous kinds such as B. thunbergii, and also on mahonia
Check plants from May onwards and pick the larvae off by hand, with gloves on. There is a second generation in late summer. Healthy plants releaf, but repeated stripping weakens them.
White powdery coating on the leaves of B. thunbergii in late summer
Powdery mildew, encouraged by dry roots and crowded stems
Water in drought, mulch, and thin congested old stems in late winter to let air through.
One branch wilts and dies while the rest of the shrub looks healthy; brown streaks show in the wood when it is cut
Verticillium wilt, a soil-borne fungus
Cut the branch out to clean wood and disinfect the blades. If the whole plant goes, remove it with its roots and replant with something not susceptible, such as a conifer or a grass.
New shoots on 'Rose Glow' come plain purple with no pink or white
Normal: the first leaves of each shoot are plain, and the marbling appears as growth extends
Wait. Hard pruning in late winter gives the longest shoots and so the most variegation by midsummer.
Dwarf berberis in a pot wilts and lifts easily from the compost
Vine weevil grubs eating the roots
Water on nematodes in late August or September and again in April. Repot into fresh compost if the roots are badly eaten.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Deciduous B. thunbergii is grown for foliage: cut back hard to 30 cm in Feb to Mar every 3 to 4 years for the best coloured leaves, or clip hedges in Aug. Evergreen B. darwinii flowers on old wood, so trim straight after flowering in May to Jun which costs that year's berries, or wait and prune in autumn or winter once the berries have gone. Both renovate to 30 cm in Mar and regrow fast. No staking or winter protection; burn prunings, s
Good to knowThorny, a good intruder-proof hedge; deciduous types give fiery autumn colour.
Growing berberis in pots
Dwarf Berberis thunbergii such as 'Atropurpurea Nana' and 'Orange Rocket' do well in a 35 cm pot of loam-based compost in full sun. Water when the top of the compost is dry, give a light feed in March, and repot every three years. The larger evergreens are too big and too thorny to be worth growing in a container.
Berberis: common questions
When should I prune berberis?
It depends on the type. Prune evergreen berberis such as B. darwinii straight after flowering in May or June; cut deciduous B. thunbergii in February or March, or clip it as a hedge in August. Pruning straight after flowering costs that year's berries; to keep them, prune in autumn or winter once the berries have gone.
What is eating the leaves of my berberis?
Almost certainly berberis sawfly larvae. They are pale with black spots and yellow blotches, up to 18 mm long, and can strip a deciduous berberis in days from late spring. Pick them off by hand and check again in late summer for the second generation.
Is berberis evergreen?
Some are and some are not. Berberis darwinii, B. × stenophylla and B. julianae keep their leaves all year, while Berberis thunbergii and its many coloured forms are deciduous and drop their leaves after turning red in autumn.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.