In flower these days, Darwin’s barberry has bright-orange flowers that are very distinctive. The flowers are carried over a period of several weeks in March, April and early May, depending on how early spring arrives – not so early this year, as it turned out, after a remarkably mild early winter.

The individual flowers are quite small, about the size of the head of a match, but they are carried in dense clusters that can be five to seven centimetres long. Bees and other insects visit the flowers as an early source of nectar and pollen. The peak flowering usually happens in April, when the whole bush is covered with orange flowers. It looks well with daffodils in flower, especially kinds with an orange trumpet.

This shrub is evergreen with small, holly-like glossy dark-green leaves. The leaves carry small but sharp spines on the edge for protection against grazing animals. Only in a very cold winter are the leaves shed, and even then only a proportion of them fall off.

The bush can be over four metres tall and about three metres wide, which makes it too big for many gardens, but it should still find a place in many country gardens where space is more likely to be available.

Darwin’s barberry, Berberis darwinii, is named in honour of Charles Darwin, the author of the theory of evolution. He was the naturalist on board the survey ship Beagle, on a journey around South America and the Pacific that took over three years in the early 1830s.

During one of many trips ashore in Chile, he collected the berberis that bears his name. Its small blue-black berries had been a source of food for native people for many centuries. The berries are very acidic.

Although the berries set here and contain seeds, very few self-sown plants arise, unlike in other parts of the world, such as New Zealand, Australia and the United States, where this berberis has become an invasive weed threatening natural vegetation.

The bush itself, though upright, can be a bit shapeless. It produces strong upright stems from which grow arching side-shoots. The big branches can hang to one side, giving an ungainly shape. This is easily corrected by pruning the bush to shape it as it grows. It is gets too big, it can be cut back hard and recovers very well.

It is easy to grow in any ordinary soil that drains well. It does not mind heavy soil as long as it does not become waterlogged in winter.

It flowers best in a sunny spot but can tolerate some shade, though it tends to get a bit drawn. Out of flower, this is not the most handsome of shrubs, so it might be placed at the back of a shrub border or mixed border, where its dark bulk is not as obvious in summer. Sometimes in autumn, after a good sunny summer, it produces some flowers.

Darwin’s barberry is sometimes grown as an impenetrable hedge because of its sharp spines, but it can be difficult to get an even growth, some plants being more vigorous than others, and it is an unpleasant hedge to trim. Clipping as a hedge affects flowering but some flowers are still produced.

Some of the problems of the plant are due to its vigorous growth, and there is a smaller-sized selection called Berberis darwinii ‘Nana’, which is more compact, less than half the size, but still carries a good show of the same bright orange flowers.

Growing wild garlic

Wild garlic is growing strongly at the moment and will be in full flower soon. This is a wild native plant also called ‘ransoms’. It emits a strong smell of garlic, and the leaves can be eaten in salads. It is commonly found growing under trees in woodland. It is a remarkable coloniser of new ground by means of prolific seed production.

Its sheets of green foliage and starry white flowers are a very attractive natural ground cover under deciduous trees. It can become a nuisance if the seeds are transported accidentally to parts of the garden where it is not wanted. But if there is a suitable place, especially in a country garden, let it do what it does best.

This week

Fruit, vegetables and herbs

Vegetable seed-sowing can continue, taking the opportunity to sow most sorts of vegetables. Make sure to harden off vegetable seedlings raised under cover. There is still time to sow sweetcorn seeds under cover. Spray apple trees for apple scab disease, if susceptible.

Lawn

Lawns have been growing reasonably well as soil temperatures increased after the long cold spell and grass began to grow. If the grass is still yellow or pale in colour and slow-growing, it would benefit greatly from some lawn fertiliser or high-nitrogen fertiliser.

Trees, shrubs and roses

Most kinds of roses need regular spraying against blackspot disease of the leaves, certainly if they had black spots and lost leaves last year. Only container-grown trees or shrubs should be planted now. It is now really too late for moving shrubs or young trees, except evergreens.

Flowers

Bedding plants should be grown on strongly by regular watering and feeding to get good size, spacing the plants well to give them room to grow. Tubers of begonias and dahlias can be potted up, or planted out towards the end of the month, and gladiolus can be planted out.

Greenhouse and house plants

Houseplants can be re-potted now, if they are pot-bound and inclined to topple easily. Over-grown house plants can be cut back now and well-watered and fed until they show signs of new growth. All greenhouse plants should be fed on strongly now and watered well.