Creeping Oregon Grape vs American Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Creeping Oregon Grape vs American Black Currant

Mahonia repens

Ribes americanum

CUSTOM GROW

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Creeping Oregon Grape
American Black Currant

Creeping Oregon Grape is an excellent ground cover plant with attractive, dark green, holly-like leaves. It maintains its leaves throughout winter, which turn mauve, rose, and rust-colored. Clusters of bright, yellow flowers develop into dark, blue-purple edible berries ideal for juice or wine.

American Black Currant is a native deciduous shrub known for its clusters of small black berries that ripen in mid-to-late summer. The berries are edible and have long been used for fresh eating, preserves, and baking. They provide food for birds and mammals, and their fragrant spring flowers attract bees and other pollinators.

American Black Currant’s foliage serves as a host plant for butterfly species such as the Green Comma and Gray Comma, and its dense branching offers cover for wildlife. The shrub has traditionally been planted in shelterbelts, riparian buffers, and restoration projects.

Creeping Oregon Grape Quick Facts

American Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 5a
Zone: 2a
Height: 0.3 m (1.0 ft)
Height: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 0.5 m (1.5 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: slow
Growth rate: fast
Life span: long
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to spreading, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - medium
Suckering: medium
Maintenance: medium
Maintenance: medium


Fall colour: purple and bronze
Fall colour: gold to red
Flowers: yellow
Flowers: small, yellowish bell-shaped, in clusters
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Fruit: large blue/purple
Berries: black, edible
Flavor: tart, variable
Harvest: mid to late summer
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: AB, BC
Native to: AB, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB
Other Names: ash barberry, creeping barberry, creeping holly grape, creeping mahonia, creeping oregon-grape, creeping western barberry, holly grape, mountain holly, oregon barberry
Other Names: eastern black currant, wild black currant