Royal Purple Smokebush vs Northern Black Currant - TreeTime.ca

Royal Purple Smokebush vs Northern Black Currant

Cotinus coggygria Royal Purple

Ribes hudsonianum

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

CUSTOM GROW

Royal Purple Smokebush
Northern Black Currant

Royal Purple Smokebush is an attractive and dramatic shrub. Mid-summer you'll notice feathery, purple-pink puffs of airy seed clusters that give the illusion of smoke. The contrast of these seed clusters against deep purple-red foliage will make Royal Purple Smokebush your new favorite shrub.

It is tolerant of clay soil, drought, and deer, making Royal Purple Smokebush a hardy addition to any yard. Try it in a hedge, shrub border, or as an accent shrub; regardless of how you use it, this shrub will be a head turner.

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.

Royal Purple Smokebush Quick Facts

Northern Black Currant Quick Facts

Zone: 4a
Zone: 3a
Height: 3 m (10 ft)
Height: 0.9 m (3 ft)
Spread: 5 m (15 ft)
Spread: 1.2 m (4 ft)
Light: full sun
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: dry, normal
Moisture: normal, wet
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


Fall colour: Purple and scarlet red
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: hudson bay currant, stinking currant, western black currant, wild black currant