Sierra redcurrant

Photo: Canbyacontributor — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Survives zone 6 through 8

Harvest calendar

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

Also called mountain pink currant. Notably tolerant of seasonal flooding and a wide range of soils — an easy, adaptable currant of Sierra Nevada mountain streambanks and moist sites, 1,400–2,300 m elevation. Fruit is bluish-black, waxy, and studded with glandular hairs.

Hardiness

Zone 6–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Late summer

Mature size

Upright multi-stemmed shrub 1–2 m

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

5.5–7.0 (mildly acid to neutral)

Environment

Montane, temperate

Native range

Sierra Nevada — southern Oregon, Nevada and California, mountain streambanks and moist sites.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

2–3 yrs

Growth speed

Moderate

Spacing

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

Leaf shape

Light green, thin, smooth, three-lobed, soft-toothed margins

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

Bluish-black, waxy-glaucous, studded with glandular hairs

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

NOT self-fertile. A controlled study of wild western Ribes recorded zero mature fruit from 736 self-pollinated flowers across four species including this one, against 286 fruits from 621 cross-pollinated flowers — every seed-bearing fruit came from insect cross-pollination. One plant on its own will flower and set nothing.

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.