Re: Ribes

[RickR]

Moderator note:
I have moved this discussion from Image of the Day - 2012 to its own heading.
Lori


I haven't found any photos here that wouldn't be "likeable".  Of course, some do have more of a "wow" factor.  Still, as one may or may have noticed, I take a lot of photos that don't necessarily show off the flower (or even have flowers at all).  For me, they are often actually more likeable and/or useful.  And, you all get the pleasure of seeing them whether you like it or not!  
 
Take this Ribes cynosbati - our native gooseberry.
 - Early spring foliage of a particularly worth wild plant:

              

[Lori S.]

Very attractive foliage there, Rick.  Is the dark colour of the leaf center retained through the season?

[RickR]

Very attractive foliage there, Rick.  Is the dark colour of the leaf center retained through the season?

Unfortunately, no. The chocolate-purple color fades rather quickly by garden standards, but the bush (not a "shrub" ) leafs out so early in the cool weather, that it remains effective even into the early leaf maturity. 

[cohan]

Nice bush, Rick
We have quite a number of Ribes- currants and gooseberries- here, and although I understand they don't tend toward tidy contained 'shrub' shapes that I suppose a lot of gardeners prefer, (though I'm sure they must be quite prunable)  I don't know why they aren't at least more popular with more interesting gardeners...lol (not that I know that many in the zone....)-- they are among the very first, if not the first, woodies to leaf out, mostly early to bloom- some with very attractive flowers, others more subtle, a variety of leaf shapes, many attractive and tasty berries, and a lot of really nice fall colour...
Here's the first one I came across in 2011 photos-- Ribes triste- probably our showiest florally, later with strings of bright red berries; Further pluses for these- growing from dry to wet places in variable light-the second one here is growing directly under a spruce tree, with only a tiny bit of dappled sun, in presumably quite dry conditions-- though it can send roots out past the spruce cover, it still had to get established there! Its just off a path near the house, so I see it often, flowers, fruit, then fall coloured leaves showing out between spruce branches... (note- different lighting for the first photo, but there are paler and pinker flowers...

[cohan]

Some more Ribes-- you really should not have got me started-- I have a whole thread worth of images-- is there a Ribes thread?..lol
A couple more colours of Ribes triste flowers, then another sp- a gooseberry type...
Further to our discussion on the weather thread, these are all on/around a 'brush pile' being among the first species to colonise new spots-- no doubt due to their berries being popular with birds!

[Hoy]

Take this Ribes cynosbati - our native gooseberry.
 - Early spring foliage of a particularly worth wild plant:

Nice leaves! I have a kind of wild gooseberry on my property but the leaves are plain green. I also have some "wild" redcurrant and blackcurrant but neither have attractive leaves except for some nice smell when you brush the blackcurrant leaves. Neither have significant flowers either.

Cohan, I really like that R tristis of yours!
Caltha palustris is one of the showier spring flower in wet areas here too - that is in the eastern parts of the country, I have not seen it that much here.

[Todd Boland]

Lori, I only wish I could grow G. verna....tried several times and it's always dead come spring.

Rick, love that spring foliage on R. cynosbati!

I think Newfoundland shares many of the same Ribes as Alberta, although I know there are at least two species out west we don't have, including one of my favs, Ribes hudsonianum

[Hoy]

Lori, very nice! Seems to be necessary with more than a raised sand bed to grow these

Todd, Ribes hudsonianum also seems to be nice plant.

Anyone who knows where it is possible to obtain seeds? (of the Ribes)

[cohan]

I think Newfoundland shares many of the same Ribes as Alberta, although I know there are at least two species out west we don't have, including one of my favs, Ribes hudsonianum

We have what I think is R hudsonianum, though I haven't actually checked the flora to be more sure... We must have at least a half dozen different species just on the 325 acre farm-- actually, I probably only get to about half that acreage or less... This is in the moist/wet woods not far behind the house, on our 6 acres, near the Caltha shown above...

[cohan]

Todd--fantastic plant and site!!

Royer/Dickinson mention Ribes americanum as being similar to hudsonianum, though with yellowish or greenish drooping flower clusters... I haven't looked up photos to compare it to yours..

[Hoy]

We have what I think is R hudsonianum, though I haven't actually checked the flora to be more sure... We must have at least a half dozen different species just on the 325 acre farm-- actually, I probably only get to about half that acreage or less... This is in the moist/wet woods not far behind the house, on our 6 acres, near the Caltha shown above...

Do you collect seed of any of the best Ribes Cohan?

R. rosea is native in Newfoundland and always grows within reach of the ocean spray.  They can be quite robust.  Here is a clump growing near L'anse-aux-Meadows, the Viking Historical site in northern Newfoundland

R. rosea is native here too (where the vikings came from though ) but I have never seen such display here although it is quite common along the shores -  and at the highest mountains!

(You know Todd, according to the annals Leiv Eiriksson is my third cousin 28 times removed! His father Eirik the Red, who sailed to Iceland and Greenland, was born south of here where my father has his roots too!)

[Lori S.]

Cohan, your Ribes does look like hudsonianum.  Mine is not a perfect fit but i could not find any other AB species that looks like the one I phootgraphed in SW Alberta.  Lori, do you have any insights?

No, sorry.  I haven't paid enough attention to the native Ribes to add anything.

[cohan]

Trond, I have not collected much seed so far- I have not heard from anyone interested in them, but I could collect if there was interest.. Kristl at Gardens North has found them to be difficult to sell, mostly, so she could not use them apart from a couple 'star' species that are not in my area...lol
I haven't yet started planting them on purpose in my yard, though there are some growing already, esp R triste; I'm planning to try some cuttings. R hudsonianum is a fave and another is Ribes glandulosum- Skunk Currant/Skunkberry  which has perhaps the most compact growth of any of the local species, and lovely leaves... berries are described as disagreeable, but I think I disagreed...lol. certainly they are attractive berries, and the flowers are nice too...
First 4 photos, Ribes glandulosum, I think..
then another species, growing right beside it.., 5,6

While I'm there, Maianthemum trifolium,7,  and  Rubus arcticus, 8 not too far away.... and another Caltha palustris, 9

[cohan]

Thanks for the move, Lori, I thought we were getting into that kind of territory...lol

[cohan]

Another.. I think this is a gooseberry type- I don't know if the distinction between gooseberry and currant types has any botanical siginificance, or whether its just about use?? The ones I think of as gooseberries do seem to tend to smaller leaves, and perhaps there are some common floral characters in each of the groups-- note the unmarked and un-bristled flower in this plant compared to spotted and/or bristled flowers of R triste, R glandulosum ..