Golden Currant vs Witch Hazel - TreeTime.ca

Golden Currant vs Witch Hazel

Ribes aureum

Hamamelis virginiana

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Golden Currant
Witch Hazel

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.

Witch Hazel is a deciduous shrub, or small tree, with a short trunk, bearing numerous spreading, crooked branches.

The seeds grow in a long, wooden pod with two to four seeds per pod. Upon ripening, the pods burst, firing the seeds up to 30km an hour.

The leaf and bark extract of Witch Hazel has been used as a remedy to common ailments such as inflammation, bruises and much more for many centuries.

Golden Currant Quick Facts

Witch Hazel Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 3a
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Height: 6 m (20 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 3 m (10 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal
Moisture: wet
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: slow
Life span: short
Life span: long
Suckering: medium
Suckering: medium


Fall colour: reddish purple
Flowers: yellow
Berries: glossy black berries
Seeds: seeds ejected to a distance of up to 30 ft
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC
Native to: ON, QC, NS, NB, PE
Other Names: buffalo currant, clove currant, fragrant golden currant, golden flowering currant, spicebush