Description

Red Flowering Currant – Ribes Sanguieneum

This plant adds lots of color in spring, attract early pollinators, and both the flowers and the foliage have a distinct, very pleasant smell!
The red flowering currant is a medium to large sized, deciduous shrub, growing up to 3m in height and is characterized by its delicious, sage-like fragrance. It can be found in dry, open woods and can be grown in full shade to full sun. This perennial has lots of small flowering clusters on multiple thornless stems; it can be identified by its dark green leaves with pale to bright-pink flowers that droop in clusters at the tips of the branches in early spring. 

In the summer, black, waxy, edible berries are abundant. They are not very tasty unprocessed. First Nations peoples use the berries as food or dried them to use in tea. 

Red flowering currants are pollinated by insects and hummingbirds and their berries are eaten by various birds and small mammals.

Height: 1-3m

Edible: Y

Medicine:  Y

Other Uses: N

Poisonous: N

Soil: Well-draining, moderately fertile soil

Watering: Dry to moist

Sun: Full shade to full sun

Usually found at: Dry semi-open areas such as roadsides, Garry oak meadows, and forest edges

Pollinators & wildlife: Hummingbirds and butterflies

Ornamental: Bright pink flowers and sage-like scent

Leaves: The alternating leaves are 2-7 cm long with five palmate lobes. They have a dark green surface and its underside is a pale green with fine hairs. 

Flowers: 3-7 cm elongated, drooping clusters of 10-20, with each individual flower 5-10 mm long. Varying from light to dark pink in colour.

Berries: The berries are dark blue in colour, with a very tart taste. They produce a waxy coating and ripen in mid to late summer.

First Nations uses: Berries can be used fresh or dried and mainly used as feast food. Can also be used for herbal teas; bark can be used for cold and flu.