{"id":4578,"date":"2013-01-30T12:15:22","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T17:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=4578"},"modified":"2013-01-30T12:14:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T17:14:01","slug":"leatherleaf-mahonia-love-it-or-dont-plant-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2013\/01\/30\/leatherleaf-mahonia-love-it-or-dont-plant-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Leatherleaf Mahonia \u2013 Love It Or Don’t Plant It"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Large Leatherleaf Mahonias at Biltmore Estates, Asheville, NC during Unseasonably Warm Winter<\/p><\/div>\n

Leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei<\/em>), aka Beale\u2019s barberry, is a holly-like evergreen shrub which appears in your garden uninvited. It is a member of the barberry family (Berberidaceae) (USDA hardiness zones 6-9). It has no sharp thorns on the stems, but leaf tips are sharply pointed.<\/p>\n

Leatherleaf mahonia is a princely evergreen shrub which blooms in late winter, some years earlier. Clusters of sulfur yellow flowers open above the foliage in terminal racemes starting in late February over a 3-4 weeks period. Lush blue green foliage emerges rapidly after flowering. By late summer the mature leaves feel leathery to the touch.<\/p>\n

Leatherleaf mahonia prefers a moist, organically rich, well-drained, acidic soil. It is best planted in partial sun to full shade. Spring’s blue-green foliage often turns pale yellow and leaf margins burn following a dry summer.<\/p>\n

This native of China often re-seeds prolifically and has earned an invasive reputation in the South. Grape-like clusters of green fruits adorn this plant from April to July. Fruits ripen to a rich powdery blue color, and birds disperse the seeds around the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Leatherleaf mahonia grows 5 to 6 feet in height. It grows mostly vase shape form, 4-5 feet wide of foliage on top and an open narrow base. Utilize leatherleaf mahonia either alone as a specimen or grouped several as a low hedge, privacy screen, or mound.<\/p>\n

Leatherleaf mahonia has no serious disease or pest problems. In my opinion, every 4-5 years, cut this shrub back to the ground immediately after flowering to re-invigorate the planting. Otherwise, it often becomes too crowded in its space. The spine-tipped leaves can be devilish to prune and body protection is advised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leatherleaf mahonia (Mahonia bealei), aka Beale\u2019s barberry, is a holly-like evergreen shrub which appears in your garden uninvited. It is a member of the barberry family (Berberidaceae) (USDA hardiness zones 6-9). It has no sharp thorns on the stems, but leaf tips are sharply pointed. Leatherleaf mahonia is a princely evergreen shrub which blooms in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,800,774,994,936,601,630,705,7,113,708,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4578"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4583,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4578\/revisions\/4583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}