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Common Barberry (Berberis vulgare)

hememabehememabe Posts: 12
in Wildlife gardening
Hello,
I don't know if anybody can help me but I am trying to buy a Common Barberry (Berberis vulgare) shrub. It seems near impossible. All they seem to sell are the non-native ones. It is very difficult to get native plants in the UK. Does anyone have a tip of where I could buy one? Or does anyone have a bare root, seedling etc that they could sell me?
Thank you for replies.
Heike
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Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Chiltern Seeds sell the seed - 
    https://www.chilternseeds.co.uk/item_199d_berberis_vulgaris_seeds

    There are suppliers of the plants on ebay, but they're sold from Italy

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Hi, thanx for reply. Yes, I've seen the ebay Italy one, have sent them a message as it's not clear how big/small the plant would be. I don't really want to start from seed, it'll take ages. How is it that you can't buy native shrubs in the UK? It's unreal.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    There are many berberis varieties - all good for wildlife. Is there a reason you want a native one, rather than one of the many common varieties available everywhere?
    The usual reason for certain plants not being available is because the newer, cultivated forms have  surpassed the native one in many ways. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Hi Fairygirl. Because the native shrubs, perennials etc, every native plant is better for native wildlife as they have evolved together for hundreds of years. The varieties that people have bred are never as good as the "real thing". Plus some of the varieties are not even native to the UK. I want to do what's best for wildlife as it is in crisis so I want the native plants. I find it very sad that you can't buy native plants, only non-native or stuff that humans have tempered with.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    It is a misconception that native plants are better for the environment.

    I don't know if this article is free for non-subscribers (I do subscribe) but it explains why 'native' is not necessarily better, and often worse for biodiversity -

    https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24933190-100-no-native-plants-arent-always-the-best-choice-for-gardens/



    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    The obsession with native species is so hooked on strange nativist perceptions that seem to have a lot of followers on YouTube gardening channels in recent years. Which makes me hugely uncomfortable. As the RHS debunked that very premise don't torture yourself finding particular wild versions of plants that most of the time have very little to do with domestic scale gardening. It's as if far right ideas have inflitrated horticulture at some level. 

    If you have acres and you wanted to rewild it it's a different story but for a smaller domestic plot those cultivated forms have developed in order to work in given space and conditions so not really a bad thing at all. The wildlife will be grateful no matter what passport the plant carries 😉
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I would contact these folks for advice … maybe they know of a supplier? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Thank you Dovefromabove, I have contacted them, hopefully I'll get a reply. 
    Hello amancalledgeorge. But doesn't it make sense to you? That native plants are better for native wildlife. Plants and insects/other wildlife have evolved together for hundreds or thousands of years. I am not talking about generalist feeders like honeybees or bumblebees. Some solitary bees for example completely depend on pollen from certain kinds of plants, the same goes for lots of butterfly and moth caterpillars. They depend on certain plants. If you take those plants away or alter their genetics to breed "nicer" ones, "more colourful" ones or "more compact" ones etc then they won't be of much value to local wildlife. That's just for people. I find that a bit selfish. Just so that plants look nicer to us humans we are taking the food source away from lots and lots of species (in addition to habitat loss and pesticides etc). And I don't understand it either. Don't the English like their own native plants? Does it have to be a foreign plant or a genetically changed plant? There are so many lovely native plants in England, it seems such a shame that so many people prefer foreign stuff.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You want native plants, yet you bought this American native for a UK garden [https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/83720/scutellaria-lateriflora/details ] as indicated on your previous thread in September
    https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1068869/can-anyone-help#latest
      
    Can't have it both ways   :) 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • hememabehememabe Posts: 12
    Fairygirl, yes unfortunately I did. That was back when I thought Skullcap is Skullcap, native or not. Now I know better and I wouldn't pick it again.
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