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Golden Currant
Ribes aureum
  
About Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) 45 Nurseries Carry This Plant Golden currant is a small to medium-sized deciduous shrub with golden spring blooms. The flowers and fruit of this fragrant and attractive shrub make the golden currant a valuable wildlife plant. Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees are attracted to the golden yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. The fruit is an important food source for many bird species as well as small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks. The berries are also used in pies, preserves, and other dishes.

Golden currant is very easy to grow and spreads readily, making it a good choice for revegetation, hedging, and groundcover applications. It grows best in moist conditions and benefits from partial shade, irrigation, and mulching in drier areas. On the coast, it prefers full sun. Inland, it prefers part shade and does best when surrounded by mulch, and grows well under oaks and in mixed chaparral. Once established, golden currant needs no special care.
Plant Description
Plant Type
Plant Type
Shrub

Size
Size
3 - 10 ft tall
3 - 10 ft wide

Form
Form
Fountain, Spreading, Upright

Growth Rate
Growth Rate
Fast, Moderate

Dormancy
Dormancy
Winter Deciduous

Fragrance
Fragrance
Fragrant - Pleasant, Slight

Flower Color
Flower Color
Cream, Red, Yellow

Flowering Season
Flowering Season
Spring, Winter

Wildlife Supported
 
Bees and butterflies are attracted to the flowers. A variety of birds are attracted to the fruits and seeds.

 
Butterflies & moths hosted ( 1 confirmed , 83 likely * ) SHOW ALL

Landscaping Information
Sun
Sun
Full Sun, Part Shade

Moisture
Moisture
Low, Moderate - High

Summer Irrigation
Summer Irrigation
Max 2x / month once established

Nurseries
Nurseries

Ease of Care
Ease of Care
Very Easy

Cold Tolerance
Cold Tolerance
Tolerates cold to 0 - 30° F

Soil Drainage
Soil Drainage
Medium, Slow

Soil Description
Soil Description
Tolerates a variety of soils. Soil PH: 6.0 - 8.0

Common uses
Common uses
Groundcovers, Deer Resistant, Hummingbird Gardens, Bird Gardens, Butterfly Gardens, Bee Gardens

Maintenance
Maintenance
Remove unwanted suckers to contain spread

Propagation
Propagation?
Seeds, cuttiings, layering or division (suckers).  For propagating by seed: 2.5-3 mos. stratification. Alternative treatments: moisten seeds with 0.2% KN03 and stratif y 2 wks.; or soak in 0.3% thiourea 40 mins., rinse under running water and sow (Stidham et al. 1980).

Natural Setting
Site Type
Site Type
Found in a variety of settings and habitats most often slope bottoms, creek sides, bottoms of slopes adjacent to wetland-riparian. Also found in drier settings such as sagebrush scrub, woodlands (oak, juniper, pine), or at higher elevations in fir or pine forest

Climate
Climate
Annual Precipitation: 5.8" - 51.8", Summer Precipitation: 0.18" - 2.63", Coldest Month: 24.5" - 55.6", Hottest Month: 46.6" - 81.0", Humidity: 0.58" - 28.86", Elevation: 24" - 10095"


Sources include: Wikipedia. All text shown in the "About" section of these pages is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Plant observation data provided by the participants of the California Consortia of Herbaria, Sunset information provided by Jepson Flora Project. Propogation from seed information provided by the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden from "Seed Propagation of Native California Plants" by Dara E. Emery. Sources of plant photos include CalPhotos, Wikimedia Commons, and independent plant photographers who have agreed to share their images with Calscape. Other general sources of information include Calflora, CNPS Manual of Vegetation Online, Jepson Flora Project, Las Pilitas, Theodore Payne, Tree of Life, The Xerces Society, and information provided by CNPS volunteer editors, with special thanks to Don Rideout. Climate data used in creation of plant range maps is from PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, using 30 year (1981-2010) annual "normals" at an 800 meter spatial resolution.

Links:   Jepson eFlora Taxon Page  CalPhotos  Wikipedia  Calflora


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