Collection: Currant Plants
Enjoy the sweet, juicy taste of homegrown currants!Currants are a relative of gooseberries and are easy to grow and ready to harvest in early to mid-summer. Currants are a traditional European edible and part of the cuisine of France, England, and Germany to name a few. The tart berries are used to make cordial, jelly, jams, added to baked goods, fruit soups and summer puddings. Long-lived, deer resistant, and very winter hardy, they are, however, intolerant of summer heat. Currants are cooperative berries to train as an espalier along a fence.
Currants prefer full sun in cooler, humid areas with plenty of summer rain such as the Pacific Northwest and upper Midwest. In hotter areas they will do better in part shade. Protect blooms from late spring frost damage. Currants need at least 120-140 frost-free growing days. These tough shrubs tolerate a wide range of soils, but require good drainage and prefer a pH between 5.5 and 7.0. Plants of the Ribes genus are an alternate host for the extremely destructive White Pine Blister Rust, red currants and gooseberries are immune to this disease.
