Berberis Species, Leatherleaf Mahonia, Beale's Barberry

Hello,
Over here in Hampshire UK I have planted a block of three Mahonia japonica. Soil is fertile clay with flint and whole area ...Read Moreunder and around plants has been heavily mulched with well rotted garden compost. As my garden is large I just can't keep up with the weeding so have spread black Mypex woven polypropylene over whole area. We live over 700ft up and plants grow in sun/semi shade.Plants have established well with good extension growth. Only problem is what I can only describe as blistering of young leaves as they unfurl which actually started before laying the Mypex. The literature seems to indicate the usual culprits, sap sucking insects etc. Not that keen to go down the pesticide route.
Anyone else had similar problems, what was the cause and how did you sort it or did it sort itself naturally?
Many thanks,
Regards, Frank.

This Mahonia performs best for me in moist soils that get afternoon shade. If it's allowed to dry out, branches will die off and leave t...Read Morehe plant looking kind of dumpy. Full sun also stresses it out, scorching the leaves and causing them to turn yellow and red, then drop. The unusual texture makes for an interesting effect in a shade garden.

Spikey leaves are a nice contrast with Fatsia on one side (big soft leaves) and dwarf Yaupon Holly (small leaves) on the other side in my...Read More Zone 8 Alabama garden. In a shady spot under tall deciduous trees. Has not been invasive in ten years. Almost no maintenance. Hasn't grown much either, so don't buy a little one. Evergreen in the winter and tough enough for our hot, humid summers.

An excellent plant for part sun/part shade, droughty areas in North Central Florida.

This plant is considered invasive in Mid-Atlantic and Southern states. But it is not the most obnoxious alien by far. The deer will eat t...Read Morehe berries/flowers and young soft new growth but, as with Ilex, not the mature stiff, sharp leaves. It grows in dry shade and is evergreen which is very rare for an ornamental here in Virginia. I have seen it spread into local natural areas by seed from the birds most likey and it can form dense patches in the deciduous forest. Doesn't seem to have any pest issues here.

I live just North of Austin, Tx and am in Zone 8A. There have been two problems with the two mahonias we planted (they are going on their...Read More third season). One of my things with plants is, especially at first, I rarely baby them. In fact, if possible, the care they get at first borders on neglect. During the first few years the plant is determining what conditions it will be dealing with and I am not alone in the opinion that plants that are not pampered will be generally tougher in the long run. What I describe below I believe to be partially a result of this practice. During the Mahonia's first winter, we got barely any rain. Same with the Fall. This year we got tons of rain and before anything could dry out, another rain would come. The first season: Major fungus problems, although I did not spray at all with fungicide. This wet, cool season: very negligible fungus spots that have just been sprayed now (and we are really now entering spring here) only to contain a potential spread. So the plants have adapted in a huge way. The other problem: sun scorch, and I am not talking about in the winter (i.e. part of the plant awakening and quickly being killed by a hard freeze). These plants get full sun every minute the sun is out and also that which is reflected off of the bright white driveway. However, these plants seem to adapt after a few years such that I am expecting the mahonias to handle the extremity of the sun this year, or at least a little better than they did the first or second. An odd thing, I know (the scorched leaves). The agricultural extension agency around here recommneds them highly as very tough plants for this area. By the way, I have taken pest management and the damage that nearly defoliated the plants in the summer was from the sun. So why the good rating? Well, there really are no other plants that look like these. They look like some kind of plant that should be in Jurrasic Park. The hummingbirds love the flowers, and other birds eat the fruit. Both are pretty. Also, we have had terrible summers here lately (60+days over 100 & drought) to where the deer literally starve to death. And it is easy to see why the deer won't touch these. I planted these for their thorny nature as a secondary feature to a large rose garden that is now pretty well established. Everyone involved kept saying: 'What's the good of these? or, 'What are they supposed to do?' or just generally commenting on how they are ugly or we should get rid of them. Now? Everbody's excieted about them. And-if they hadn't toughened up so well, I would have had to consent to digging them up this year. Thank you Mahonias. You have proven me and yourselves. These are really interesting and beautiful plants. I love them. By the way, there is also a Mahonia called holly grape (Mahonia aquafoliae, I think) that I haven't seen available for a while and haven't been able to grow. Another note, these are entirely evergreen in the Austin Area. We get down in the twenties here and there and rarely below. But the most you will see is a partially red leaf. And they cannot naturalize here. So don't worry about spread by seed. I am not claiming that they cannot become very vigorous and spread although conversely I cannot verify that they will. Also, a nice thing about these plants is they are just not planted that much which for me is always a plus.

We planted one of these at church in 2008, and then got hit with a classic Zone 5 minus 18 degree low over the winter. Siting saved the ...Read Moreday. The flower buds failed, but the foliage survived. Spring brought new growth at the branch tips. New flower buds grew rapidly in October. The siting shields the plant from direct sun all through the winter, and allows direct sun on the shrub for only a few hours during growing season days. The key is that the Mahonia is a broadleaf evergreen and should not be subjected to any direct sun when the ground is frozen solid. We hope that milder winters will allow the flowers to bloom.

The slow growth of typically single budded shoots allows us to keep the shrub in bounds over a wide range of desired heights. When a shoot dies or gets too tall, just cut it back to a few inches above the ground. The shorter shoots will appreciate the light, the root system keeps growing.

I got one as a cold greenhouse subject to go with the Bay and the Camellia. Even moderately serious frost will not injure these guys.

I have grown one specimen of this plant in Arlington, Texas, under high deciduous shade in rather poor, sandy soil, which is now nearly 2...Read More0 years old. It has stayed healthy, flowering and setting berries every year, but grown very slowly, and is still barely 3 feet tall, with three main stems. We like it enough we planted a second one two years ago, which is also doing well, but growing very slowly. Both are quite drouth and heat tolerant, given sufficient shade and mulch. They appear to have no pests or diseases in our area.

I hadn't seen mahonia before buying our current house, where it has seeded everywhere. The berries are edible to people and animals (sour...Read More!), so the birds have done their part to spread this around. There is a speciman at the back of my property that is almost 10 ft. tall, looks very spindley with just a tuft of leather leaves at the top.

I give this a negative because simply based on the number in my yard it is very invasive. It readily self-seeds and the attractive berries means animals will seed it as well. I have multiple mahonia 'stump clumps' in my yard that are anywhere from 2-5 inches across where previous residents have cut the plant down. Trust me, it doesn't work: each of those stump clumps has one or more new plants on it. The few I have managed to dig up have both a tap-like root and a thick horizontal root structure: much like a tree, expect the mahonia root system under the ground to be about the same size of the plant above the ground. Between this root system and the prickley leaves, digging this up is an absolute CHORE! I've managed to dig up 3 out of over 20: I'm starting with the small ones first.

Another con is that my area doesn't get cold enough for the leaves to change quite properly, so the bright reds and yellows mahonia is known for are sporadic at best.

The positives I can give this plant are the beautiful berries (as others have described) and the exceptionally bright yellow color of the root flesh. I haven't tried yet, but I am fairly certain you could make dye or ink out of it. Also, the spikey leaves make it a very good security planting at property lines, in front of windows, etc.

For those that want this plant, I will happily trade full clumps of the over-ripe berries for seeds. Also, I saw it in the Home Depot garden center just this week.

We had quite a large 3ft specimen growning on it's side by a creek bed, it was in great shape so we decided to dig it up & try and transp...Read Morelant it to our shady planting bed where we have another Mahonia, only 10 ft away, We did this just a couple of weeks ago & the leaves have all yellowed, we are hoping that it lives and comes back strong. Does anyone know if they are difficult to transplant?

I dug up a start of this bush from my sister in laws large, beautiful, bush, located in Alabama. I dug up the sprout in October, 2006 and...Read More kept it over the winter in our green house. It is almost May now and it is doing great. It is green, strong and has many new shoots. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and flourish in my own back yard in Worthville, Kentucky.

I saw this plant in a garden at the Highland Lake Inn near Hendersonville, NC at the end of May - at least I think it was this plant. Th...Read Moree cluster of berries almost looked like grapes, with less "ripe" ones looking green and more ripe ones like a deep purple. From a Northerner this plant was unusual and striking, and I assumed it was an ilex (which I am more familiar with).

This is another favorite in the Deep South for its evergreen structural presence, very early Spring, fragrant flowers, and big powdery bl...Read Moreue berries. At my grandparent's home, now the home of my 97 year old Aunt, in South Georgia, a huge one, planted in the 1950's, grows against a white open-brick-work wall, which emphasizes the deep blue-green color of its leaves. This very old, large plant is growing in the part shade of large oaks, with evergreen Aspidistra and Liriope.

My Southern Living Garden Book says Leatherleaf Mahonia grows to about 10 to 12 feet tall, and I have seen old plants taller than this. My book also says it will grow in the Coastal South, but I haven't seen any yet here in the plant nurseries in Northcentral Florida, zone 8b. But I am sure I will eventually find one.

I don't own this plant YET, but a client of mine does. It is an awesome looking very unusual plant! Leaves look just like Holly to me, ...Read Moreonly a little bit larger. The blue berries look JUST like blueberries, only a tad more oval, and they cascade like bunches of grapes. I'm definitely going to try to add this one to my little shade garden, if I can locate one!

I love this shrub because it so unusual. Visitors to my garden often think it is a holly at first, but the shape of the leaves just isn'...Read Moret quite right. Then they notice (if it's the right time of year) that is is flowering in February - long stalks of fragrant yellow flowers. In the spring/early summer the blue berries appear, almost the size of a grape. The birds feast. At least in my neighborhood it's a show stopper.

GROWTH HABIT, RATE:
Upright and coarse habit (large stems and leaves).
Annual Growth Rate: less than 12 inches
...Read Morer /> Leatherleaf Mahonia is a large shrub with
holly-like, bluish leaves and many upright stems. The small
fragrant yellow flowers are produced in large
clusters. These are followed by blue clusters of hanging fruit that are often eaten by birds.
ADAPTABILITY:
Moist, well-drained soils, requires acid pH. Performs best if given some winter protection.

FUNCTIONS:
Specimen, massing, border, best where flower fragrance can be appreciated in the spring.

PROBLEMS AND MAINTENANCE:
May become leggy and require pruning. Winter scorch on leaves in colder zones.