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Golden Currant (Ribes aureum)

from $13.99

Botanical name: Ribes aureum‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Spring‍ ‍ • Bloom color: Golden yellow ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): peppered moth, Leptarctia californiae, Isabella tiger moth, Tharsalea arota

Golden Currant is an upright native shrub that blooms in early spring with clusters of small golden trumpets that smell distinctly of cloves, followed by berries that ripen from amber to black. It is among the earliest shrub nectar available in the Great Basin, timed almost exactly to the arrival of hummingbirds, and it hosts two butterflies, and feeds birds later in the year.

Botanical name: Ribes aureum‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Spring‍ ‍ • Bloom color: Golden yellow ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): peppered moth, Leptarctia californiae, Isabella tiger moth, Tharsalea arota

Golden Currant is an upright native shrub that blooms in early spring with clusters of small golden trumpets that smell distinctly of cloves, followed by berries that ripen from amber to black. It is among the earliest shrub nectar available in the Great Basin, timed almost exactly to the arrival of hummingbirds, and it hosts two butterflies, and feeds birds later in the year.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Ribes aureum

Common Name: Golden Currant

Native: Native

Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

Water: Low

Bloom Time: Spring

Bloom Color: Golden yellow with a clove fragrance

Pollinators: Bees; Butterflies; Hummingbirds

Mature Size: W 3'-6' x H 3'-8'

Soil: Well-drained; adaptable, tolerates seasonal dryness once established

Plant Type: Deciduous shrub

USDA Zones: 3 to 8

Spread Habit: Suckers modestly

Available As: Live plant

Native Region: Great Basin; Colorado Plateau; Southern Rocky Mountains; Columbia Plateau; California Floristic Province

Host Plant (Elsewhere in North America): peppered moth, Leptarctia californiae, Isabella tiger moth, Tharsalea arota

Growing Notes

Full sun to part sun in adaptable, well-drained soil. It tolerates seasonal dryness well once established and takes more shade than most natives here, which makes it useful on the north side of a building. Give it 5 or 6 feet of room. Water through the first two summers, then taper off.

  • Water: Low

  • Sun: Full Sun to Part Sun

  • Soil: Well-drained; adaptable, tolerates seasonal dryness once established

  • Mature size: W 3'-6' x H 3'-8'

Maintenance

Prune right after flowering rather than later, since the flower buds for next spring form on the current season's wood. Remove a few of the oldest canes at the base each year to keep it productive rather than shearing the outside. It suckers modestly; remove the shoots if you want a single clean shrub, or let it form a thicket for better bird cover.