Alpine Currant vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Alpine Currant vs Northern Black Currant

Ribes hudsonianum

Ribes alpinum

CUSTOM GROW

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Northern Black Currant
Alpine Currant

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.

Alpine Currant is a great shrub to plant along sidewalks, near building or at your property boundary as a hedge or accent species. It is widely used by commercial landscapers in parking lots and near buildings because of its hardiness, attractiveness, and pollution tolerance.

While Alpine Currant produces edible berries, they are not palatable.

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Alpine Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 2a
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Height: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Spread: 1.5 m (5 ft)
Light: partial shade, full sun
Light: any
Moisture: normal, wet
Moisture: normal
Growth rate: medium
Growth rate: medium
Life span: medium
Life span: medium
Growth form: upright to prostrate, thicket-forming
Spreading: seeds - low, layering - low
Suckering: low
Maintenance: medium


Foliage: glossy green
Flowers: small white, in clusters
Flowers: greenish yellow and fragrant
Bloom time: spring to early summer
Berries: black, edible
Berries: small, bright red
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: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant
Other Names: mountain currant