Japanese Barberry Question?

Frank99

I have a couple of these Japanese Barberry plants in the front garden however, every time i google for Information about them i get news about them being banned in the United States for harbouring ticks and being a Lyme Disease risk etc. With recent news about deadly Chinese ticks i'm getting a bit worried if they could becomes a risk to people in the UK.
I only recently purchased them from a garden centre as a bit of a prowler deterrent for under the front windows but my other half has been reading these stories and wants me to dig them up and dump them on the compost heap.
 http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/japanese-barberry-a-threat-to-public-health.html
Many of these scare stories are from the US so i don't know if they affect the UK with our climate.

unforeseen

The tick it talks about is only native to the US & Canada. It is also called the deer tick for a very good reason. 
States appear to have banned it because of its invasive nature more than anything. 

RHS details about it at https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/2183/Berberis-thunbergii/Details

Frank99

unforeseen said:

The tick it talks about is only native to the US & Canada. It is also called the deer tick for a very good reason. 
States appear to have banned it because of its invasive nature more than anything. 

RHS details about it at https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/2183/Berberis-thunbergii/Details

That is reassuring to know that it native to the US and Canada!

Davesnave

I had no idea what 'Japanese Barberry' was till I followed the link and found it to be good old old Berberis darwinii!

There must be hundreds of thousands of these in supermarket car parks, civic planting schemes and private gardens, so I'd not be too concerned. They grow very easily from seed; mine having come from the hedge between Halfords and Lidl in Barnstaple. Not too many deer roaming there!

[Deleted User]

Yes, the proper name for japanese barberry is actually Berberis.

It is a common shrub, sold in millions and in growing in most gardens (private and residential) throughout the United Kingdom.

Has been sold for many, many, many, years and in this country there won't be many deer roaming to spread Lyme Disease ( they wander into a friends gardens and are very partial to her Camelias 🙄😣 ).

As for invasion - most plants in the garden will be invasive if the soil/aspect/etc is perfect for them - Leycesteria and Hypericum to name two, bane of my life round here 😣