laurel-leaved currant

Photo: Steve Law — CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Survives zone 7 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

An evergreen grown for its pendent late-winter flower racemes, not for fruit — one of the few Ribes species valued mainly as a winter-interest ornamental.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

June–Aug

Mature size

Low evergreen shrub 0.6–1.2 m — unusual in the genus for holding its leaves

Light

Partial to shade

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

China — Guizhou, western Sichuan and Yunnan, in woodland.

Status

Ornamental

Years to fruit

1–2 yrs

Growth speed

Slow, reaching about 1 × 1.5 m.

Spacing

120 cm (47 in) apart — about 1.4 m² (16 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Leathery, scalloped, dark green, oblong laurel-like leaves 5–10 cm long.

Root system

Shallow and fibrous, the bulk of it in the top 30–45 cm and spreading wider than the bush is tall. Two consequences worth planning for: it dries out quickly in a hot summer, so mulch and water rather than cultivate around it, and low branches that touch the ground will often layer themselves, which is the easiest way to get a new plant.

Fruit description

Purple fruit up to 20 × 10 mm, ripening from red to blackish, hairy or smooth depending on subspecies.

Propagation

Hardwood cuttings are close to foolproof: take pencil-thick shoots about 20–25 cm long in late autumn, push two-thirds into free-draining ground outdoors and leave them a year. Layering a low branch works too. Seed needs several months of cold stratification and is only worth it for breeding.

Pollination

DIOECIOUS — needs both a male and female plant to fruit, unless you plant one of the two named hermaphrodite/self-fertile cultivars ('Rosemoor' or 'Amy Doncaster').

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.