Japanese Barberry 'Orange Pillar'

Japanese Barberry 'Orange Pillar' (Berberis thunbergii 'Orange Pillar') is a flame-shaped candle for your garden. A narrow upright crown, orange-red foliage that blazes even brighter in autumn, and in spring the bush covers itself in small pale yellow flowers.

This is a plant for narrow spots where you want colour rather than bulk: beside a path, in a low clipped hedge, or as a thorny barrier nobody will push through. Mature plants hold around 1-1.5 m tall and wide, and the colour is brightest in full sun - in partial shade it fades.

Key characteristics:

• What makes it special: Japanese barberry is left alone by deer and takes city air in its stride, so it suits both an out-of-town garden and a street-side planting.
• Dimensions: At ten years 1-1.5 m in height and 1-1.5 m in width.
• Hardiness: Hardy to -34 °C (USDA zone 4).
• Flowering: In April and May the bush is covered with small but charming pale yellow flowers.
• Light: It shows best in full sun; it accepts partial shade too, though the leaf colour and fruiting are more modest there.
• Soil: It takes any ordinary garden soil, from acid to alkaline - as long as it drains well and holds no standing water.
• Watering: Watering is moderate, from dry to medium; once established it calmly takes drought and heat.
• Care: It responds to pruning right after flowering (RHS pruning group 2), and hedges are trimmed once the blooms are over.
• Landscape use: A bright accent for small compositions and foundation plantings, a border, a clipped hedge and a spiny protective barrier.