Pyracantha 'Red Column'
Upright Firethorn
Overview
Pyracantha 'Red Column' is a spectacular upright evergreen shrub that delivers outstanding year-round performance with minimal maintenance requirements. This vigorous cultivar combines the classic firethorn qualities of abundant white spring flowers and brilliant red autumn berries with a distinctive narrow, columnar growth habit that makes it perfect for smaller gardens and formal landscapes. With excellent disease resistance and exceptional hardiness, 'Red Column' provides reliable structure, seasonal colour, and valuable wildlife habitat whilst requiring remarkably little care once established.
Key Features
- Mature Size: 2-2.5m height × 1.5-2m spread
- Growth Rate: Fast to very fast
- Hardiness: Fully hardy (RHS H6) - withstands temperatures below -20°C
- Flowering Period: May to June
- Fruiting Period: September to February
- Foliage: Evergreen, glossy dark green narrow leaves
- Flower Colour: Creamy white clusters
- Berry Colour: Bright orange-red
- Growth Habit: Upright, columnar
Plant Description
This striking cultivar forms a naturally narrow, upright column of dense evergreen foliage, making it ideal for vertical accent planting. The small, glossy dark green leaves are narrowly oval with slightly serrated edges, creating an attractive fine-textured appearance throughout the year. In late spring, the shrub becomes smothered in clusters of small, creamy-white flowers that emit a distinctive sweet fragrance. These are followed by masses of brilliant orange-red berries that persist well into winter, creating one of the most spectacular autumn and winter displays in the garden. The stems bear sharp thorns, making it an excellent choice for security hedging.
Growing Conditions
Soil Requirements: Extremely adaptable to most soil types including clay, loam, and sandy soils. Tolerates both acidic and alkaline conditions (pH 6.0-8.0). Requires good drainage but copes with occasional waterlogging.
Light Preferences: Thrives in full sun to partial shade. Best flowering and berry production occurs in sunny positions, though tolerates considerable shade.
Moisture Needs: Drought-tolerant once established, though benefits from regular watering during dry spells in the first two years. Avoid waterlogged conditions.
Climate Tolerance: Exceptionally hardy throughout the UK. Tolerates urban pollution, coastal conditions, and exposed sites remarkably well.
Planting Guide
Best Planting Time: Potted plants can be planted at any time of the year providing the ground is not frozen or waterlogged and its not excessively windy.
Spacing: 1.5-2m apart for hedging, 2-3m for specimen planting
Planting Depth: Plant at the same level as the container soil surface
Soil Preparation: Dig planting hole twice the width of the root ball. Add compost to heavy clay soils to improve drainage.
Care and Maintenance
Watering: Water regularly during establishment period. Mature plants rarely require supplementary watering except during prolonged drought.
Feeding: Apply general-purpose fertiliser in early spring. Established plants growing in reasonable soil rarely need additional feeding.
Pruning: Prune in late winter or early spring before flowering. Can be pruned hard to maintain size and shape. Trim lightly after flowering to maintain form. Wear protective clothing due to sharp thorns.
Mulching: Apply organic mulch around base in spring to suppress weeds and retain moisture, particularly beneficial for young plants.
Garden Uses
Specimen Planting: Excellent vertical accent for borders, courtyards, and small gardens
Formal Hedging: Outstanding for narrow hedges, screens, and boundary plantings
Security Barriers: Thorny nature makes it ideal for deterrent hedging beneath windows or along boundaries
Wall Training: Can be trained against walls or fences as an informal espalier
Wildlife Gardens: Provides food and shelter for birds whilst supporting pollinating insects
Urban Gardens: Excellent tolerance of pollution makes it perfect for city gardens
Seasonal Interest
Spring: Fresh new growth and masses of fragrant white flower clusters
Summer: Dense green foliage provides excellent structure and backdrop
Autumn: Spectacular display of bright orange-red berries begins
Winter: Persistent berries and evergreen foliage maintain colour and interest
Wildlife Value
The abundant berries provide crucial winter food for thrushes, blackbirds, fieldfares, and redwings. The dense thorny growth offers excellent nesting sites and protection for small birds. Spring flowers attract bees, hoverflies, and other beneficial insects, supporting garden biodiversity.
Disease Resistance
'Red Column' has been selected for superior disease resistance, particularly to scab (Venturia pyracanthae) and showing good tolerance to fireblight. This makes it a much more reliable choice than older, more susceptible varieties.
Pruning and Training
The naturally upright habit requires minimal pruning to maintain shape. For formal hedging, trim 2-3 times during the growing season. When wall-training, tie in main branches and prune side shoots to 2-3 buds after flowering. Always wear thick gloves and protective clothing when pruning due to vicious thorns.
Security Considerations
The formidable thorns make this an excellent security plant, but consider placement carefully around frequently used areas. Keep well-pruned near pathways and avoid planting too close to play areas. The thorns can penetrate most clothing, so always use appropriate protective equipment during maintenance.
This outstanding cultivar combines rapid establishment, exceptional hardiness, and spectacular seasonal displays with minimal care requirements, making it an excellent investment for gardeners seeking reliable year-round performance with maximum visual impact.
Buying Shrubs from Jacksons Nurseries
At Jacksons Nurseries we sell a variety of shrubs both evergreen and deciduous with a variety of flowering times throughout the year. At certain times of the year our shrubs you buy from us may not look like the images shown on our website when deciduous leaves have fallen, the shrub has finished flowering or has been trimmed back.
Some leaves on evergreen shrubs can be damaged in winter by frost or harsh winds but in spring new leaves will readily replace those damaged. This is quite normal on many evergreen varieties and is preferable to plants grown with excessive protection that show cold shock once planted out and establish less satisfactory initially.
Availability: Stock availability figures are provided as a guide only. There is a delay between orders being placed and the plants being gathered by our pulling team. During this time it may be possible for a member of the public to purchase these plants from our Garden Centre, while this is rare it is a possibility and we will notify you of any problems as soon as possible. This figure may also include plants that have not yet be flagged as unsaleable.
Pre-order: Pre-order times are given as a guide only and may vary dependent on the growing season. Orders containing Pre-ordered products will be shipped as a single order when all items become available. Large orders may be part shipped, please contact us on 01782 502741 or email sales@jacksonsnurseries.co.uk.
* Please Note: Shrubs in 20 litre pots and above might require a pallet delivery starting at £79.99 per pallet. Depending on the exact pot size and height it may be possible to get approximately 5 plants per pallet at no extra cost. The maximum height we can dispatch on a pallet is 2.0m, this includes the height of the pallet and pot.
Shrubs are deciduous or evergreen woody plants, and often provide fragrant flowers, berries and foliage. They are good for structural framework, and they can provide a wonderful shelter and food source for wildlife.
Planting and Conditions
Container grown shrubs can be grown at any time of year. It is a little known fact that shrubs planted in the autumn and winter will be easier to look after than those planted in the spring and summer, because they will have time to establish and become hardy in the cooler months.
Plant the shrub at the same depth as it was in its original pot. Planting too deeply can result in root and stem rot.
One of the biggest causes of death in new shrubs is drought stress, so keep it well watered until it’s established.
Make sure you loosen the soil prior to planting. Most shrubs are tolerant of most soil types as long as it is fairly well draining.
Most shrubs will grow happily in containers, but they will be much more demanding on feeding and watering than shrubs in the ground would be. They will also need potting on every couple of years so that they don’t suffocate or become stunted in their pot.
Aftercare and Pruning
Once established, shrubs generally do not require much water. However, at first they need careful, frequent watering and should not be left to dry out.
Shrubs in the ground are generally not demanding and in most cases, annual feeding with general purpose fertilizer will suffice. Shrubs in containers may need more feeding; usually from early spring until late summer.
Shrubs also benefit from mulching in order to supress weeds, conserve moisture and provide vital nutrients. Mulch also greatly improves soil conditions. Shrubs can be mulched in late winter, after fertiliser has been applied, but it can be mulched through autumn to late spring as long as the ground is damp.
All shrubs benefit from dead-heading once spent flowers become apparent. Rhododendrons and Lilac especially benefit from the removal of dead flowers.
Some shrubs may show signs of reverted growth or ‘sporting’. This is where random shoots of different leaves associated with the plant’s parentage begin to appear. Most commonly this is where plants with variegated leaves sprout pure green growths instead of variegated ones.
To control reversion, remove reverted shoots promptly to discourage them. Reverted shoots are usually much more vigorous than the variegated ones, and thus should be completely pruned out and cut back into wood containing variegated foliage.
Potential Issues
Although shrubs are usually very robust garden plants, they can sometimes start to decline with no apparent or obvious reason.
This will start with browning leaves, which could indicate plant stress due to lack of water or waterlogging, an establishment failure or, in the worst case scenario, honey fungus. Another cause of leaf browning is a high salt content in the soil. This could be a natural occurrence, especially if you live near the ocean, or it could be from over fertilisation.
To remedy a high salt content, cut back on fertiliser and step up your watering regime for the next few weeks. If you live by the ocean, this will be harder to remedy—but stepping up your watering will help to wash some of the salt away all the same.
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