Canadian Buffaloberry vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Canadian Buffaloberry vs Northern Black Currant

Shepherdia canadensis

Ribes hudsonianum

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

CUSTOM GROW

Canadian Buffaloberry
Northern Black Currant

Canadian Buffalo Berry is a native deciduous shrub found throughout North America. This hardy, medium-sized shrub will tolerate poor soil conditions and produces attractive, edible–though very bitter–red fruit.

Northern Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub found across Canada and the northern United States. Dark purple to black berries that ripen in summer and provide food for wildlife and humans. Fragrant yellow-green flowers that attract a wide variety of pollinators.
This shrub is well adapted to moist soils and can even survive periods of flooding. It has an interesting bronze colour in fall.

Canadian Buffaloberry Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 1a
Zone: 3a
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: none
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: dark green with silver undersides
Flowers: tiny, red
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: red bitter berries (edible)
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: bitter
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, NL, YT, NT, NU, PE
Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, YT, NT
Other Names: canada buffalo berry, canada buffaloberry, canadian buffaloberry, foam berry, foamberry, russet buffaloberry, soap berry, soapberry, soopolallie
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant