Variegated Dogwood vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Variegated Dogwood vs Northern Black Currant

Cornus alba argenteo-marginata

Ribes hudsonianum

COMING SOON

(new stock expected: fall of 2025)

CUSTOM GROW

Variegated Dogwood
Northern Black Currant

Variegated Dogwood is a small shrub that is often used in the first row of a shelterbelt, as a hedge, or for soil stabilization projects. It has the same distinctive red bark, white flowers, and berries as Red Osier Dogwood.

The key difference between the two is the leaves. Where Red Osier's leaves are green throughout, Variegated Dogwood has a white outline around each leaf, giving this shrub a distinctive look.

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.

Variegated Dogwood Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 3a
Height: 2.7 m (9 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 2.1 m (7 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: any
Moisture: normal, wet
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: variegated white edges
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
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, YT, NT
Other Names: tatarian dogwood
Other Names: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant