Ribes alpinum - Alpine Currant

Ribes alpinum is a deciduous bush accustomed to harsh climates in the Alps, the Caucasus, and Siberia. It is a very dense bush, resistant to cold, whose female individuals bear beautiful bright red berries, edible but tasteless. Male plants, on the other hand, offer abundant green flowering in spring. With rapid growth and low requirements, this currant bush is perfect for creating low untrimmed hedges and can help to enhance a country hedge. To produce currants, it is necessary to plant several plants, at least one male and one female.

The Alpine Currant belongs to the family of Grossulariaceae. Native to Northern Europe to Russia, it is not afraid of cold or occasionally dry and chalky soils. It will reach an average size of 1m30 (4.26ft) in all directions, with rapid growth. This flowering currant is a very dense deciduous bush with dense vegetation and a bushy and rounded habit. Its smooth branches are reddish-purple in colour. After the leaves have emerged in April-May, short upright racemes of 10 to 30 small yellow-green flowers appear, quite decorative on male plants. Female plants have more discreet flowering that gives rise, after pollination, to large round berries of scarlet red, ripe in late summer. The deciduous foliage develops very early in spring. It consists of leaves 3 to 5cm (1 to 2in) long, divided into 3 to 5 dentate lobes, medium green in colour, and slightly shiny. 

The Alpine Currant will find its place in all gardens, in an informal or country hedge, shrub borders, or even as a stand-alone plant. While it is more floriferous in a sunny location, it accepts shade, which can enhance a north-facing hedge. You can plant it in a spring scene with lilacs, mock oranges, Mexican orange blossom, Syringa microphylla 'Superba', Exochorda racemosa 'The Bride', or even 'Hollandia' broom. Planted in groups of three or four, mixed together, flowering currants create an extraordinary effect, especially at the back of perennial borders.