The Orange Rocket Barberry from the Southern Living Plant Collection elevates gardens to new heights! During spring, young foliage emerges as a vivid coral. This soft foliage matures through Summer becoming an eye-catching scarlet-red. Afterward, it features one more color change before the winter sets in. You’ll see the scarlet-red leaves age to an elegant ruby red. This adds even more vivid red hues to your fall landscape. Like most Barberries, this variety features small sharp thorns on the branches.
Once established, this fast-growing plant proves itself to be quite hardy. It’s also drought tolerant. In fact, its low-water requirements make it perfect for Xeriscape gardens.
It grows in a column-like shape that reaches around 4′ H x 1.5′ W. This vertical growth habit presents unique opportunities in the landscape. Horizontal growth steers the eye over a landscape. Vertical growth gives the eye a reason to pause. This allows the viewer to absorb the colors and textures of the scene presenting itself.
This barberry shines as a border, slope plant, mass planting, or in a container. Mix in a few as accents in a foundation planting. They’ll take your home’s curb appeal to the next level!
*The Orange Rocket Barberry is a deciduous/semi-evergreen plant and will go dormant during the winter months. When this plant is ordered during the Fall/Winter expect seasonal foliage decline(discoloration, spots, leaf drop) or the plant to arrive completely dormant.*
It’s hardy from USDA Zones 5-9 once fully established. At that point, it can withstand temperatures between -20° and -15° Fahrenheit. It will lose all of its leaves for the winter after a couple of hard freezes. New leaves will emerge in spring.
Choose a location in Full Sun to Part Shade for best results. At least 3 hours of direct sunlight is important for your plant to grow.
It handles sandy to poor to rich quality soils as long as it is well-draining. Soggy soil with poor drainage generally leads to root rot.
Water 2-3 times per week for the first few months after planting. This will allow it to establish deep roots, where it will be able to draw water in times of drought. After establishing itself, though, the Orange Rocket Barberry needs little supplementary water.
This is a very cold-hardy plant. It requires little supplementary winter care above the ground once it goes dormant.
Gardeners in colder zones should consider mounding a few inches of mulch at the base of the plant. This protects the roots over the winter. Be careful to ensure that the mulch isn’t resting against the trunk of the plant, as that can lead to rot.
If your plant begins to flush with new growth in early spring watch out for unexpected freezes. If this occurs, cover your plant overnight with a tarp or blanket. New growth is susceptible to frost damage.
No, there are both deciduous and evergreen Barberries, but this variety is deciduous. So, it will drop all of its leaves, and wait for the return of warm weather. On the plus side, this means it’s able to handle cold better than many evergreen plants. The bare branches also create an intriguing winter-scape texture feature.
Yes, most varieties in this species have small sharp thorns. We recommend wearing gloves when removing them from their pots. There is a good side to this, which we will cover in the next frequently asked question.
Yes, they are! This is where those little thorns come into play. If you’re a deer looking for a snack, would you want a mouthful of sharp thorns? Certainly not, and deer feel the same way. For this reason, this is one of the most deer-resistant plants around.
It’s our responsibility to pick and ship healthy plants to your front door. And we take this responsibility very seriously. Our plants are well-rooted in their pots and ready to take off in your landscape. If you’re not happy with your order when it arrives, contact us! Reach us at 1-866-618-5659 or send us an email at info@plantsbymail.com and we’ll do whatever we can to make it right.
Tammy Ashley (verified owner) –
Beautiful in color, alive. Thank you!!
David (verified owner) –
Ordered the 2 gal orange rocket barberry. Arrived in excellent condition. Full, healthy, good foliage and good color. Extremely pleased. Could not have done better at a garden center.
Ferdinand (verified owner) –
This will be the second pair of Orange Rocket Bayberry Scrubs I have purchased in 12 months. When they arrive they look beautiful and healthy; however, for some reason each pair has struggling to survive once planted, and they eventually completely die within a few weeks . Although this is a zone 9 plant, I don’t believe these scrubs are able to handle Central Florida heat, which may explain why I have never seen these unique scrubs being sold in any nursery or box store in the area; otherwise I would have purchased them locally, and I could have gotten a store credit or refund from the store should they have died soon after being planted.