GOLDEN CURRANT

Ribes aureum

One of the more common native western shrubs in the nursery trade, golden currant likes rich soil and ample water. It is thus right at home in traditional irrigated landscapes. It has many fine features to recommend it, including bright green foliage, fragrant, yellow, trumpet-shaped blossoms, abundant fruit for human and avian comsumption, and a fine display of autumn color, ranging from bright gold through orange and red. It is also shade-tolerant, and is rarely browsed by deer. It has a vaselike form and is strongly root-sprouting, so that it needs to be pruned by thinning out at the base, much like a forsythia. In nature, golden currant can form dense thickets on floodplains and along waterways, but in the garden, this tendency is easily kept in check.