Mahonia
By Piddy
Sussex,
United Kingdom 
I think the Mahonia is a lovely plant but would like to know how big it grows and how much it spreads as my garden isn't that big, I am a bit confused as to how many different types there are, I like the one with the yellow flowers, are the ones called charity different to the ones called winter sun? please help
24 Dec, 2008
Answers
wich Mahonia do you want to plant Mahonia x media 3 to 4 metres tall ok but there is too the Mahonia aquifolium 2 to 2.5 m i never saw the Mahonia japonica 3 m and there are many mahonia 90 species
24 Dec, 2008
Most are sold in 3 litre pots at about a foot in height.
They grow about a foot a year giving you plenty of time to decide how much to pruning they need. They also prefer the shade, the leaves tend to fade if placed in a sunny spot
25 Dec, 2008
I wrote a blog on mahonias earlier this month - you may like to take a look at it and then send me a message if you still have any questions
29 Dec, 2008
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Mahonia will grow into quite a big shrub, 3 to 4 metres tall and a metre across. They may however be pruned after flowering to keep them down to a reasonable size for the garden. However, the leaves are painfully prickly, so you would not want it any where near a path or lawn where one might catch oneself on them.
As far as differences are concerned, we have 5 supposedly different ones and unless you put the flowers next to each other the differences are not, to my eyes, noticable. Lovely winter colour though.
24 Dec, 2008