canyon gooseberry

Photo: jkirkhart35 — CC BY 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.

Purple, tart fruit that Wildflower.org describes as "mainly seeds and little fruit" and generally unpalatable — primarily a native wildlife/garden plant rather than an eating gooseberry, and its spines make hand-harvest difficult regardless.

Hardiness

Zone 7–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

June–Aug

Mature size

Spiny deciduous shrub 1–2 m

Light

Full sun; tolerates part shade, but avoid summer irrigation once established — direct summer watering is linked to root rot in this species specifically.

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Coastal

Native range

California's Coast Ranges and low-elevation mountains, and southern Oregon.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

1–2 yrs

Growth speed

Fast.

Spacing

150 cm (59 in) apart — about 2.3 m² (24 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Rounded, hairy, glandular leaves 1.5–4 cm wide, sticky to the touch.

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

Prickly, oblong berries up to 2 cm long, reddish-purple skin covered in fine bristles, mostly seeds with little flesh.

Propagation

Seed (needs stratification; viable in storage 17+ years) or dormant stem cuttings taken in late winter/early spring.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite flowers, insect-pollinated. No self-compatibility study for this species specifically: cultivated currants and gooseberries are largely self-fruitful, but controlled work on wild western Ribes found several species outright self-sterile, so a single plant is not a safe assumption. Plant two.

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.