Ribes

Evergreen or deciduous shrubs, from across the Northern Hemisphere and into South America. Around 150 species, including the kitchen garden staples of flowering currants, (R. nigrum, R. rubrum) and gooseberries (R. uva-crispa). Many excellent ornamental ribes are worth growing, as they often have showy early spring flowers, lobed leaves and tolerate a wide range of growing conditions. Best pruned soon after flowering. Ribes sanguineum and forms are excellent shrubs for the garden. R. speciosum, with its fuchsia-like flowers can make a spectacular wall-trained shrub. R. laurifolium makes a good woodlander, often flowering in January. R. x gordonianum produces flowers of an unusual intense red-yellow.

With low shrubby growth, many Ribes species can provide nesting sites for birds such as dunnocks, while the fruits of most are very edible to both birds and small mammals. In spring, the flowers of all species attract pollinators, especially bees, to their abundant nectar. Some currants support a range of moth larval stages, including currant pug and magpie moth. Although there are native species, nowadays the most familiar in our countryside is R. sanguineum, having been planted in or otherwise colonized all lowland areas of Great Britain in the two hundred years since its introduction to our gardenscape.