2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Blood-red currant (Latin Ribes sanguineum) - berry and ornamental culture; a representative of the Currant genus of the Gooseberry family. Found naturally in North America. Today it is cultivated everywhere as an ornamental plant.
Characteristics of culture
Blood-red currant is a flowering shrub up to 4 m high with straight reddish-brown shoots and a spreading crown. The leaves are dark green, 3-5-tylopaste, kidney-rounded in outline, tomentose-pubescent on the underside, up to 8 cm long, when rubbed, they emit a rich aroma that spreads around the area. The flowers are numerous, pink or red, tubular, up to 1 cm in diameter, collected in drooping racemose inflorescences.
Fruits are medium-sized, up to 1 cm in diameter, blue-black with a bluish bloom, they are edible, but have a bland taste. The blood-red currant blooms in May, the fruits ripen in August (sometimes earlier). The culture enters fruiting 5 years after planting. Boasts resistance to pests and diseases. At present, experienced breeders have bred several forms and varieties that differ in the color of flowers, leaves and other minor traits.
Decorative forms and varieties
Forms:
* Dark red currant (f. Atrorubens) - is represented by shrubs with purple-red flowers of medium size;
* Bright currant (f. Splendens) - outwardly similar to the previous form, differs only in the size of flowers and a darker color;
* Dark currant (f. Cameum) - an attractive form with numerous pink flowers;
* Whitish currant (f. Albescens) - a form with white flowers;
* Terry currant (f. Flore-plena) - is represented by shrubs with red double flowers;
* Brocklebankii currant - form with pink flowers and yellow leaves.
* Gordon's currant (R. x gordoniana Lem) - is a hybrid obtained by crossing fragrant currants and blood-red currants, distinguished by red flowers with a yellowish tint, collected in long dense brushes.
Varieties:
* Atrorubens - characterized by shrubs of medium-sized dark blood-red flowers;
* Carneum - represented by shrubs with large flowers of pale pink color;
* King Edward VII - shrubs with burgundy flowers, collected in long clusters;
* Strybing Pink - differs in flowers of pale pink color;
* Variegata is a rather attractive variety with unusual leaf color;
* White Icicle - stands out with snow-white flowers.
The subtleties of growing
The blood-red currant is photophilous, although it develops well in partial shade. Negatively refers to waterlogging and excessive dryness of the soil. The species is unpretentious to soil conditions, but it blooms better on fertile, loose, water and air-permeable substrates with a neutral or slightly acidic pH reaction. Blood-red currants are not frost-resistant, they need shelter for the winter. In cold winters, unripe shoots freeze under the shrubs, but with the onset of warmth they quickly recover.
In terms of care, blood-red currants are undemanding, like other flowering and berry crops, they need systematic watering, weeding, dressing and pruning. Pruning is carried out immediately after flowering, fertilizers are applied in early spring. The species is propagated most often by green cuttings or layering, but the seed method is ineffective, even with careful care of the crops and favorable conditions, only 30-40% of the seeds germinate. When sowing in spring, the seeds are subjected to preliminary cold stratification (2-3 months).
Application
Due to a wide variety of forms and varieties, blood-red currants are used in ornamental gardening. Cultivated both in groups and singly. It is often used to form flowering hedges. It is ideally combined with other ornamental shrubs and trees, as well as with bulbous crops and spring perennials, for example, forget-me-nots, tulips, daffodils, etc. Also, blood-red currants are good in alliance with forsythia, Carls' viburnum and Lamarca's irga.
Recommended:
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Holmskyoldia Blood Red
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Heichera Blood Red
Heuchera blood-red (lat.Heuchera sanguinea) - decorative perennial culture; a representative of the Heuchera genus of the Saxifrage family. One of the most common types. Used to obtain new varieties. In nature, this representative can be found in rocky and humid areas in the southwestern regions of North America.
Hawthorn Blood Red
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