Golden Currant vs Falsebox - TreeTime.ca

Golden Currant vs Falsebox

Paxistima myrsinites

Ribes aureum

CUSTOM GROW

SOLD OUT

Falsebox
Golden Currant

Falsebox is a hardy, native evergreen shrub found in forests, rocky slopes, and open woodland sites. Though small and easily overlooked among the leaves, the maroon flowers still supply nectar and pollen for pollinators such as native bees and flies. Blooming in spring, they provide an important early-season food source. Its year-round greenery adds visual interest through the winter.

Falsebox is a low-growing shrub that tolerates a wide range of conditions, including drought once established. It thrives particularly well beneath the shade of mature trees, where few other plants succeed. With its resilience and ecological value, Falsebox is well-suited for naturalization, restoration projects, and diverse landscape plantings.

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.

Falsebox Quick Facts

Golden Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 5a
Zone: 4a
Height: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: any
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: slow
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Growth form: prostrate to spreading
Spreading: layering - medium
Suckering: medium


Foliage: evergreen, leathery leaves
Fall colour: reddish purple
Bark: reddish-brown
Flowers: small, maroon-purple, fragrant
Flowers: yellow
Bloom time: summer
Berries: glossy black berries
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC
Native to: AB, BC
Other Names: false box, mountain boxwood, mountain lover, myrtle boxwood, oregon boxleaf, oregon boxwood
Other Names: buffalo currant, clove currant, fragrant golden currant, golden flowering currant, spicebush