Purple Leaf Sand Cherry vs Golden Currant - TreeTime.ca

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry vs Golden Currant

Ribes aureum

Prunus x cistena

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON

ONLY AVAILABLE BY CONTRACT GROW

Golden Currant
Purple Leaf Sand Cherry

Golden Currant produces berries for jams, jellies, sauces and even pemmican. This currant bush is very dense, allowing for use as a hedge, windbreak, or wildlife habitat.

This plant is also a very popular rootstock to graft popular red and white currant varieties to. The resulting plants are taller, more productive, and easier to harvest.

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry provides bright reddish-purple leaves that turn bronze-green in the fall. In the spring, tiny flowers with a pinkish white hue bloom. The flowers are small, but the impact comes from the shrub blossoming all at once.

The Purple leaf sand cherry can be susceptible to pests and diseases in more humid areas; a typical life span is approximately 15 years. Not suitable for a privacy hedge on its own but is often alternated with lilacs. Often used as an accent plant that attracts birds and bees.

Golden Currant Quick Facts

Purple Leaf Sand Cherry Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 3a
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Moisture: normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no
Fall colour: reddish purple
Fall colour: dark red
Berries: glossy black berries
Flowers: yellow
Flowers: pinkish
Bark: dark red to purple
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: short
Life span: short
Suckering: medium
Suckering: low




Toxicity: the leaves and seed are slightly toxic
Other Names: buffalo currant, clove currant, fragrant golden currant, golden flowering currant, spicebush
Other Names: purpleleaf sandcherry