Photo: Mark Robinson from Williton, UK — CC BY 2.0 · 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.
⚠ Primarily an ornamental, not a fruit crop — the fruit is technically edible but multiple independent sources (PFAF, Wikipedia, NC State Extension) describe it as insipid, sour, or "better left for the birds." It's grown for its spectacular early-spring flower clusters, a strong hummingbird draw, not for eating.
- Hardiness
- Zone 6–8
- Habit
- Shrub
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- June–Aug
- Mature size
- Upright deciduous shrub 1–4 m
- Light
- Full sun to partial
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0
- Environment
- Temperate
- Native range
- Western North America — coastal British Columbia through California, both sides of the Cascades, with some range into northern Idaho.
- Status
- Ornamental
- Years to fruit
- 1–2 yrs
- Growth speed
- Fast, up to ~60 cm a year, reaching 2.5–3 m spread within a few years.
- Spacing
- 200 cm (79 in) apart — about 4 m² (43 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Palmately 3–5-lobed, irregularly toothed, matte dark green with deep veining giving a wrinkled look, aromatic when crushed.
- Root system
- Spreads slowly by root sprouting and layering; not noted as aggressively rhizomatous.
- Fruit description
- Small (7–10 mm), oval to round, dark purple to bluish-black berries with a whitish waxy bloom and numerous seeds; tart, peppery and rather bland rather than sweet.
- 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 reliably self-fertile. A controlled study of wild western Ribes recorded zero fruit from self-pollination in R. glutinosum, against good set from cross-pollination. That taxon is treated by the Jepson eFlora and Calflora as R. sanguineum var. glutinosum, the coastal variety of this species, though some authorities still rank it as a species in its own right — so read the result as strong evidence rather than a direct measurement of the type. Plant two, and expect a lone clone to disappoint.
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.
Growing guide
Fertilizing. Does not need regular feeding; after pruning, a spring application of a general-purpose fertiliser (or a mulch of organic matter) supports vigorous regrowth — go easy on nitrogen, which favours leaf growth over flowers.
How it spreads. Clump-forming and non-suckering, so it stays where planted, but self-sows readily — birds eating the berries commonly deposit seed around the garden, and seedlings can turn up some distance away.
Growing tips. Prune immediately after flowering to shape the plant and encourage next year's blooms. Highly susceptible to white pine blister rust as an alternate host, so planting is restricted or banned in several US states near white pine stands (e.g. North Carolina, Maine, New Jersey) — worth checking local regulations before planting.
Companion planting. Described as very susceptible to blister rust in at least one source, and specifically prohibited in some regions (e.g. North Carolina) because of that host potential — worth checking before planting near white pines, especially given how widely this is sold as an ornamental.
Grow journal
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