Darwin barberry arrives in the garden with its own biography intact. Collected by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle along the coast of South America, it was sent back to Kew where William Hooker formalized the species name. The plant itself has the character to justify the attention: a fountain-like mound of densely spiny, holly-resembling branches that can reach 10 feet, with a robustness that suits its origins in the temperate southern tip of the continent. Once established, it handles drought and heat with equanimity and shrugs off browsing deer.

The flowering is the event of the year. In spring, large clusters of orange-yellow blooms smother the branches, working the bees hard and transforming the shrub into something almost tropical in its intensity. Purplish berries follow, eaten by birds. The spiny leaves persist year-round, making the plant genuinely useful as a screening hedge or security barrier. It performs best in the Pacific states where the climate echoes its southern origins. In California it has shown some tendency to naturalize beyond garden bounds, so its spread is worth monitoring in those regions.