Monthly Archives: May 2010

“How big will barberries get?” That’s a recent question someone asked of a Google search when landing on this blog. I’m assuming Google directed the person here because I’ve written about the barberries in my landscaping in the past.

The answer to that question depends on the variety of barberry. I happen to have both the pygmy and the regular size. The pygmy size is planted on an east side slope of my home. It’s an area that I selected plants where I could pretty much forget about them. The area receives less rain because it’s shielded by the house, plus, my hose doesn’t easily reach there. Yes, I could buy more hose, but then it wouldn’t all fit on the hose reel attached to the opposite side of the house. See, that’s my rationale.

The pygmies (in the photo above) are several years old and have not been pruned. They provide a nice contrast to the golden globe arborvitae and to the large variegated willow shrub.

On the west side of my house, I’ve planted the large barberries. Per the tag when I purchased them, they are to reach a max height and width of 6 ft. Because the west side receives more of the winter winds, I’ve had to sometimes prune off the winter damage. Even so, they are now about 4 ft tall. I chose the taller variety here in order to hide the sump pump pipes and the gas meter.

The green shrub to the left is a pyracantha that is about to bloom. In the fall, it will have decorative orange berries which robins will feast on when they return late winter. The robin (she’s a regular) likes to build her nest in the pyracantha and a bunny builds a winter “rabbit hole” in the ground. The pyracantha extends out about 4 ft on the other side of the fence. While The Murph knows the bunny is there, he can’t get to it due to the thorns. Smart bunny!

When doing any planting around your home, as any good home inspector will tell you, remember to keep the plants at least 3 ft away from the house and to grade the ground to slope away from the home to avoid basement issues. Although these plants may not appear to be, they are 3 ft away from my foundation.

One further hint is that whenever I need to prune the barberries, I put small pieces of the branches under the bird feeders. Their thorny stems make the patrolling cats stay away. Sorry cat lovers, but I like my birds.

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