Flowering and fruiting currants and gooseberries

Graham Rice lists his top ten currants and gooseberries

- Graham Rice

CURRANTS, both flowering and fruiting, are sometimes described as idiot-proof. I'm not sure I'd go quite that far, but both kinds really are easy to grow, the closely related gooseberries, too. In most gardens you'll get colourful spring flowers and summer berries bursting with flavour, all with little special care. Even the varieties that are not quite top notch, or that have been around for decades, will bring you bright colours or prolific crops.

However, as ever, you cannot go wrong choosing varieties that have the accolade of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. Awarded after the RHS has grown all available varieties side-by-side, and assessed them over a number of years, look for the RHS cup symbol.

Botanically, they're all ribes

There are about 200 different species of currants and gooseberries, gathered under the scientific name of Ribes. Four species are British natives, some grow wild in other parts of Europe or Asia, many more are North American natives and some grow naturally in South America.

All mature into small or medium-sized, mostly deciduous shrubs, all flower in the spring and develop berries in the summer – to gardeners, the big difference is that the flowering currants are showy when in bloom, with pendulous clusters of red, pink or white flowers, while fruiting currants are not. Conversely, fruiting currants tend to be unremarkable in flower, but the crop of juicy berries weighs down the branches.

Both flowering and fruiting currants not only share these basic qualities, but also share the need for a sunny site.

Flowering currants