Flowering and fruiting currants and gooseberries
Graham Rice lists his top ten currants and gooseberries
CURRANTS, both flowering and fruiting, are sometimes described as idiot-proof. I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but both kinds really are easy to grow, the closely related gooseberries, too. In most gardens you’ll get colourful spring flowers and summer berries bursting with flavour, all with little special care. Even the varieties that are not quite top notch, or that have been around for decades, will bring you bright colours or prolific crops.
However, as ever, you cannot go wrong choosing varieties that have the accolade of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. Awarded after the RHS has grown all available varieties side-by-side, and assessed them over a number of years, look for the RHS cup symbol.
Botanically, they’re all ribes
There are about 200 different species of currants and gooseberries, gathered under the scientific name of Ribes. Four species are British natives, some grow wild in other parts of Europe or Asia, many more are North American natives and some grow naturally in South America.
All mature into small or medium-sized, mostly deciduous shrubs, all flower in the spring and develop berries in the summer – to gardeners, the big difference is that the flowering currants are showy when in bloom, with pendulous clusters of red, pink or white flowers, while fruiting currants are not. Conversely, fruiting currants tend to be unremarkable in flower, but the crop of juicy berries weighs down the branches.
Both flowering and fruiting currants not only share these basic qualities, but also share the need for a sunny site.
Flowering currants
Although all currants share the same basic flower structure, superficially they can look very different. The most widely grown flowering currant is Ribes sanguineum, and when flowering currants are discussed this usually the one people have in mind.
In April, its pendulous clusters of flowers in red or pink, plus white, open at about the same time as the foliage, lining the branches and turning to stand upright as they develop. The black berries that follow are 6mm in diameter.
Others grown for their flowers include R. speciosum with flowers like those of fuchsias, R. odoratum with clusters of golden flowers, and R. x beatonii with red buds opening to yellow flowers.
Fruiting currants
Blackcurrants (R. nigrum), redcurrants (R. rubrum), whitecurrants (a whiteberried form of redcurrant) and gooseberries (R. uva-crispa) are all fruiting currants. Gooseberries are set apart by the long, sharp spine that develops at each leaf joint and which infuriates gardeners at harvest time.
While birds are attracted to the fruits of flowering currants, and will spread the seeds, the larger fruits of fruiting varieties, and of gooseberries (in spite of the thorns) are more popular and the harvest can be ruined by hungry birds.