Read a commented Alpine currant profile here with useful information about growth, leaves, flowers and fruit. The best tips for planting and caring for Ribes alpinum.
What should you know about the Alpine currant?
The Alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) is a deciduous shrub that occurs in Central and Northern Europe. It is easy to care for, hardy and ecologically valuable. The flowers are friendly to bees and the berries provide food for birds. Planting is best done from February to May.
Profile
- Scientific name: Ribes alpinum
- Family: Gooseberry family (Grossulariaceae)
- Synonym: mountain currant, wild currant
- Occurrence: Central and Northern Europe
- Growth type: deciduous shrub
- Growth height: 100 cm to 200 cm
- Leaf: lobed, triangular to roundish
- Flower: grape-shaped
- Fruit: Berry
- Consumption quality
- Roots: Heart Shallow Roots
- Winter hardiness: hardy
- Use: hedge plant, wild fruit bush, bird feeder
Growth
The Alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) is a deciduous shrub from the gooseberry family. The wild form of the well-known garden currants originally comes from the high altitudes of the Alps. The wild currant is now a common sight in Central and Northern Europe as decorative street greenery. In contrast to currants in the orchard, the dark red fruits of a mountain currant are not very tasty. The wild fruit tree compensates for this shortcoming with these special growth characteristics:
- Growth type: deciduous shrub with inconspicuous spring blossoms and bright red fruit decorations.
- Growth habit: tightly upright, bushy branched with thornless shoots, partially prostrate when old.
- Growth height: 100 to 200 cm, under ideal conditions up to 250 cm.
- Growth width: 100 cm to 200 cm.
- Roots: heart-shaped, partially flat root system without invasive runners.
- Growth speed: 20 cm to 30 cm annual growth.
- Gardenically interesting properties: easy to care for, hardy, tolerant of root pressure, tolerates cutting, ecologically valuable, bee-friendly, bird-friendly, shade-tolerant.
Video: Alpine currant on the side of the path
Leaf
Most of the year the alpine currant wears a lush robe of leaves with these characteristics:
- Leaf shape: short stalked, three to five lobed, 3 cm to 5 cm long, rounded to triangular in outline.
- Leaf edge: coarsely toothed.
- Leaf color: dark green, bright yellow autumn color.
- Arrangement: alternate, in dense clumps.
- Special feature: very early shoots, clinging to thornless branches for a long time until well into winter.
Bloom
Ribes alpinum thrives as a dioecious species with separate sexes. Male and female flowers sit on a separate tree. The following overview summarizes flower characteristics worth knowing:
- Flower shape: Raceme with 5 to 30 individual flowers.
- Single flower (gender independent): four to five-flowered, 5 mm to 9 mm large, yellowish-green.
- Male inflorescence: 2 cm to 3 cm long with 10 to 30 individual flowers.
- Female inflorescence: 1 cm to 1.5 cm long with up to 5 individual flowers.
- Flowering time: April to May.
- Special feature: aromatic, incense-like scent.
- Nectar and pollen value: 2, recommended bee pasture.
Botanists classify the alpine currant as imperfectly dioecious. A male bush bears a few female flowers and vice versa. For this reason, it is not surprising if the well-known male variety Ribes alpinum Schmidt occasionally boasts fiery red fruits in autumn.
Fruit
Pollinated flowers of a female alpine currant transform into attractive fruits with these attributes:
- Fruit shape: Berry
- Fruit size: 5 mm
- Fruit color: bright red
- Fruit ripeness: from August
- Consumption quality: edible, bland to tasteless
Natural gardeners leave the wild currants hanging as fruit decorations so that hungry birds can feast on them.
Usage
The Alpine currant is a local natural treasure with these diverse uses:
| Garden Style | Tip |
|---|---|
| Natural Garden | Bird-feeding hedgerow |
| Bee-friendly garden | Hedge strips as bee pasture |
| Forest Garden | Tree underplanting |
| Hanggarten | Embankment reinforcement |
| Cottage Garden | Enclosure at the picket fence |
| Terrace garden | Privacy hedge |
| Front yard | Group of three as a house tree replacement |
| Vegetable garden | Dwarf variety as a bed border |
| Perennial bed | Leading perennial as a bee pasture |
| Balcony | Bucket shrub with privacy effect |
Planting alpine currants
The best time to plant alpine currants as a hedge or solitary is from February to May. At this time you can buy inexpensive Ribes alpinum as bare-root trees in any well-stocked tree nursery for a price starting at 1.59 euros. A ready-to-plant shrub in a 3-liter container for year-round planting costs around 10 euros. If a wild currant is already thriving in the garden, it can be planted successfully after propagation using cuttings. The best planting tips to read:
Propagation
It's so easy to propagate the Alpine currant:
- In autumn, cut off woody shoots and defoliate them.
- Using disinfected scissors, cut diagonally into 20 cm long cuttings with an eye on each end.
- Plant two-thirds of the cuttings in a pot with loose, humus-rich potting soil.
- Water regularly and do not fertilize.
You can overwinter the cuttings like rose cuttings and plant them out next spring. To ensure that a young alpine currant branches lushly, the first 5-10 cm long, herbaceous shoots are trimmed.
Location
Basically, the alpine currant thrives wherever you plant the bush. At this location the woodland shows its most beautiful side:
- Sun to shade, preferably partially shaded.
- Normal garden soil, nutrient-rich, fresh, moist, loose, humic and permeable.
The mountain currant is best planted in calcareous soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 8.
Planting – Tips & Tricks
Read the best tips about the perfect planting technique for Ribes alpinum as solitary and hedge plants here:
- Soak each tree in water for 30 to 60 minutes before planting.
- Dig a planting trench marked with string for the alpine currant hedge.
- The planting hole for a solitary Alpine currant is twice as large as the root ball.
- As starting fertilizer, mix the excavated material with 30 percent compost and horn shavings.
- The correct planting depth corresponds to the planting depth in the nursery pot (pay attention to the soil mark for root products from the nursery).
The most important care measure on the day of planting is extensive watering with normal tap water. Bare-rooted hedge plants also receive a planting cut. Cut back all shoots by a third or half. A sap buildup occurs, whereupon the tree branches vigorously.
Excursus
Mixed hedge with alpine currant
With its natural charm, the Alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) fits into a picturesque natural hedge of local wild trees. Ideal planting partners are: May flower bush (Deutzia), cornelian cherry 'Jolico' (Cornus mas), red honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum), grape elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), bloodcurrant (Ribes sanguineum) and blackthorn (Prunus spinosa).
Caring for Alpine currants
The Alpine currant is undemanding and easy to care for. In contrast to garden currants, wild currants rarely need your gardening attention. You can read useful care tips here:
Pouring
Drought stress is the most common cause when a shrub fails to grow. In the first few weeks after planting, the alpine currant is watered regularly. A well-rooted tree only needs to be watered if it is dry for a long time.
Fertilize
If a mountain currant is planted in nutrient-rich soil, the starting fertilizer on the day of planting fully covers the nutrient requirements. No further fertilizer applications are necessary. The Alpine currant is only grateful for a portion of compost or a handful of horn shavings if there are noticeable deficiencies, such as pale leaf colors. In fact, the shrub thrives more compactly in poor soil. On extremely nutritious soils, however, the wood tends to fall apart.
Cutting
The pruning care of an alpine currant is a matter of discretion. Thanks to its good-natured pruning tolerance, the tree also tolerates vigorous pruning. The best time to trim your hedge is in early spring, just before the leaves emerge.
Recommendations for a pruning appointment after flowering fall on deaf ears among nature-loving gardeners. The breeding season has long since begun in May. Buzzing hedge trimmers and rattling secateurs are out of place in an alpine currant hedge from the beginning of March to the beginning of October, which can also be read in the Federal Nature Conservation Act.
Diseases and pests
An alpine currant gives no reason to complain about diseases or pests. The tree is not only very easy to care for, but also robust and resilient.
Popular varieties
These beautiful alpine currant varieties will beautify your garden and make the hearts of birds and insects beat faster:
- Ribes alpinum Schmidt: Premium variety with tightly upright, densely branched growth, predominantly male flowers from April, height 100 cm to 200 cm.
- Ribes alpinum Elza: female variety with edible berries without fruit acid; requires Ribes alpinum Schmidt as a pollinator.
- Dwarf Alpine currant (Ribes alpinum pumilum): low, compact, cushion-forming, beautiful as underplanting, growth height 60 cm to 90 cm, growth width 50 cm to 125 cm.
- Alpine currant Majorenhof: ideal variety for wild fruit hedges, produces bright red, juicy-sweet currants, growth height up to 200 cm.
- Alpine currant “Aureum”: compact variety impresses with lemon-yellow flowers, deep red fruits and red autumn colors, height 90 cm to 120 cm.
FAQ
What planting distance should an alpine currant hedge keep from the neighboring property?
The Alpine currant does not proliferate and does not form long runners. For this reason, a planting distance of 100 cm to 150 cm is sufficient so that the hedge plants do not grow over the property boundary.
How do I grow an Alpine currant hedge with a privacy screen height of 2 meters?
By planting 3 Ribes alpinum per meter of hedge, the densely branched trees pull each other up, so to speak. Provided there is a regular supply of nutrients and water, the desired growth height of 2 meters can be easily achieved. To ensure rapid growth in height, the currant hedge should be trimmed slimmer at the beginning. In this way, the growth power of the trees goes to the shoot tips in the crown area.
Is the wild currant poisonous?
No, the wild currant, also known as the alpine currant (Ribes alpinum), is not poisonous. The native shrub is also not protected, like the other gooseberry family. The bright red berries are edible, although completely acidless. For this reason, consumption is not a refreshing treat for the palate, as is the case with red currants (Ribes rubrum). Birds, on the other hand, really appreciate the fruits as a valuable source of food.
Is the alpine currant suitable for underplanting a silver birch?
Underplanting silver birch trees is a delicate undertaking. With their shallow, strong root system, Betula pendula compete with underplanting for water and nutrients. The Alpine currant is one of the few plants that can withstand this vehement root pressure.
Does the alpine currant need a pollinator?
The Alpine currant thrives as a dioecious, separate-sex tree. In order for a bush with female flowers to fruit, there must be a male bush nearby. The variety Ribes alpinum 'Schmidt', which you can buy at your local tree nursery, is ideal as a pollinator.
