Mountain currant

Mountain currant: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Dense, finely branched shrub of 1–2 m and about 1.5 m across; easy to keep lower as a hedge.

Leaf

Alternate, 2–5 cm, roundish with 3 (sometimes 5) deeply toothed lobes, glossy and almost hairless; leafs out as early as March.

Twigs

Thin, greyish-brown twigs without prickles; old stems with peeling bark.

Flower

Small, greenish-yellow flowers in short, upright clusters, in April–May; male and female on separate shrubs.

Fruit

Small red berries in July, only on female shrubs; edible, but insipid.

Difference from redcurrant and gooseberry

Redcurrant has larger leaves, hanging flower clusters and big, juicy red berries; gooseberry has prickles below the buds and large, single berries.

Flowering: April–May · Pruning: May–June and August

Identify by feature: Palmate leaves

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Redcurrant Ribes rubrum: larger leaves, hanging flower clusters and big, juicy red berries. Difference from redcurrant
• Gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa: prickles below the buds and large, single berries. Difference from gooseberry

Why grow it?

• A hedge that stays dense even in deep shade and under trees.
• In leaf by March: one of the first hedges to turn green.
• No prickles: pleasant to trim and beside a path.
• Flowers for bees, small berries for birds.
• Tolerates hard pruning and grows on any ordinary soil.

Mountain currant: where does it grow best?

• Sun, partial shade or shade: it stays dense even in shade.
• Any ordinary garden soil that does not dry out or stay waterlogged for long.
• As a free-growing shrub 1–2 m high and about 1.5 m across; as a hedge you can keep it at 0.5–1.5 m.

Light

Sun to shade

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Normal

Size

1.5 m tall, 1.5 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Hornbeam: Another hedging plant that tolerates shade: together a mixed, native hedge.
• Holly: Evergreen, for a mixed shade hedge that stays green in winter too.
• Lesser periwinkle: An evergreen ground cover with small blue flowers for the shade beneath the hedge.
• Common ivy: Evergreen and good for insects and birds, for the same shady corner.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Tolerates shade and suits planting under large trees such as: ginkgo, box elder, ash, honey locust, field maple, silver maple

Mountain currant: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or as hedging plants; container plants can go in almost all year round.
2. For a hedge: about 3 plants per metre. Cut them back by a third after planting, so they branch densely from the base.
3. Only female shrubs bear berries; if you want berries for the birds, ask for them at the nursery. If you are looking for plants of native origin, go to a nursery that sells native planting stock.
4. Under trees: work some compost into the soil and water during the first summers, as the tree roots drink too.

Care

Watering

During dry spells in the first year; under trees, also in later years during long dry periods.

Feeding

A little compost in spring is enough.

Hedge trimming

At the end of June and possibly again at the end of August.

Shape

Trim a hedge slightly wider at the base than at the top: that way the base gets enough light and stays dense.

Tip: Looking for a low hedge under trees or along the shady side of the house? Choose mountain currant: it stays dense where privet or beech go bare, and it has no prickles.

Mountain currant: when to prune it?

Pruning months: May–June and August.

When: Trim a hedge at the end of June and possibly at the end of August; a free-growing shrub after flowering.

How:

• Trim a hedge neatly with hedge shears.
• On a free-growing shrub, thin out a few of the oldest branches at the base after flowering.
• It tolerates hard pruning: a bare, old hedge can be cut back hard; do it after flowering, and it will regrow the same year.

Caution: Check that no birds are nesting in the hedge before you trim.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Cuttings

In autumn or winter, push 20–25 cm lengths of one-year-old wood into the ground: they root readily.

Layering

Bend a low branch down to the ground and cover a section with soil; after a year, cut the rooted plant free.

Mountain currant: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• It comes into leaf in March, when most other hedges are still bare.

Diseases and pests

• Aphids: Aphids on the young shoot tips in spring. Ladybirds and tits clear them up; trim off the tips when cutting the hedge if needed.
• Leaf spot: Small brown spots and early leaf fall in a wet summer. Clear up the fallen leaves; the following year it leafs out as normal.
• Bare base: A hedge that is wider at the top than at the base goes bare at the bottom. Trim it to a taper, or cut an old hedge back hard.

Through the year

• March: First leaves; last month for bare-root planting.
• April: Flowering: small greenish-yellow flowers for bees.
• May: Prune a free-growing shrub after flowering.
• June: Trim the hedge, end of June.
• July: Small red berries on female shrubs, for the birds.
• August: Possibly a second trim, end of August.
• November: Planting season begins; cuttings.
• December: Plant in mild weather.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Low to medium hedge that stays dense even in shade and comes into leaf early.

For wildlife

Flowers for bees, small berries for birds.

Did you know?

• It tolerates deep shade and hard pruning: one of the few hedging plants that stays dense even under trees.
• Male and female flowers are on separate shrubs: only female shrubs bear berries.
• Despite its name it does not only grow in the mountains; in the garden it does perfectly well in the lowlands, even though it is very rare in the wild in our region.