Are there lime-green barberry shrubs?
— W.R., Renton M.B.: Yes, the Golden Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii ‘Aurea’) will light up your life and the entire neighborhood every spring with startling yellow foliage, and this thorny but compact shrub will survive drought and poor soils. The foliage turns a more subdued green as summer progresses, but then is flushed with red and orange in the fall. Golden barberry makes a nice contrast to the deep purple foliage of the more common ‘Crimson Pygmy’ or ‘Rose Glow’ barberry and you can put the wicked thorns on these barberries to use when using them as an informal hedge that will deter wandering people and pets. Barberries were once called “schoolyard shrubs” because planting them around school windows kept vandals from breaking in — and students from breaking out.
