James barberry arrived in cultivation through the great Scottish plant hunter George Forrest, who collected it in 1913 from the thickets, forest margins, and mountain slopes of China and Tibet where it grows with a kind of casual abundance. In the garden it takes on a more considered presence: an upright, irregular multi-stemmed shrub that matures to around 10 feet tall and 8 feet wide, adaptable to a range of soils as long as drainage is reasonable and pH stays between 6 and 7. Its heat and drought tolerance are genuine, not aspirational, and deer tend to leave it alone.

The spring flowers are yellow and arrive in long, slender clusters that justified an RHS Award of Merit in 1925. But it is the fall display that earns the deeper loyalty — the foliage turns a warm red as the temperature drops, and the fruits that follow hang in vivid red strands 2 to 3 inches long, brilliant enough to stop a walk through the autumn garden. Birds discover them quickly. Prune in late winter before the new season starts, and do it lightly: this is a plant best allowed to express its natural form. Use it as a specimen or in a loose hedge where that extraordinary fruiting display can be seen from multiple angles.