by Todd Rutherford
I recently wrote about growing your own antioxidant ‘superberries’ as part of a designed low-water landscape, and not just as part of the typical fruits and vegetable garden area. Another group of ornamental plants that fits this category and needs to be given more attention are the currants and gooseberries.
Red Lake Currant
These plants are small to medium shrubs that are mostly drought-tolerant and, for many of them, adaptable to sun or filtered shade. Best of all these shrubs provide healthy edible berries while providing landscape interest, with some even giving nice fall leaf color.
Red Lake Currant (Ribes rubrum) is possibly the best choice for Colorado gardeners who are looking for a mild-tasting red berry. It prefers full sun, but benefits from some afternoon shade in hot summer areas. It matures to 3-4’ high and 3-4’ wide.
If you’re more concerned with ornamental criteria, the native Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) will fit the bill with its yellow flowers and red fall leaf color. Golden Currant prefers partial shade and low to moderate water conditions, and produces red to black berries that are most delicious when left to dry on the shrub to a raisin-like fruit. Its common name comes from the beautiful yellow flowers and it has an open, rounded form, growing 4-6’ high and 4-6’ wide.
Ribes aureum – Golden Currant
Close cousins to the currants are the gooseberries. They are native to Eurasia, and grow as rambling shrubs with arching spiny branches. Gooseberry berries are larger than currants and sometimes have hairs on the skin. They are usually green colored, but some variants may range from red to deep purple. A recommended choice for Colorado is the Pixwell Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa ‘Pixwell’). Pixwell’s ½” size fruit are light green, becoming soft pink with maturity. The plant grows 3-4’ high and 3-4’ wide. Plant one of these in your yard so you can one day make a classic gooseberry pie!
Definitely consider making room in your landscape for a currant or gooseberry shrub. Many of them are well adapted to our dry Colorado climate, are moderately sized, provide ornamental interest and will reward you with antioxidant-rich berries to savor.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
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by Matt Corrion
Have you noticed how amazing the Brooms around Denver are looking right now? This one I photographed in Aurora is just beginning to explode into bloom. Sadly, many of the flowering trees and Lilacs along the front range got zapped by the late cold spells we had, and few will produce showy flowers this year. It is nice to have amazing drought tolerant plants like Cytisus purgans ‘Spanish Gold’ to pick up the slack.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
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by Todd Rutherford
A recent trend in the food world has been the craze for antioxidants. Many tasty and healthy fruits and vegetables have been touted for their antioxidant components. Many of the best known antioxidant plants, such as green tea, coffee, cranberries and blueberries, are not easy or are impossible to grow in the Colorado landscape.
Aronia arbutifolia – Red Choke Berries
However one of the fruits highest in antioxidants can be easily grown in Colorado, providing spring flowers, edible berries, red fall color, and drought tolerance all in one package. Recent news reports have mentioned that Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) shows one of the highest values of antioxidants ever recorded by researchers. In fact, scientists have placed its antioxidant powers above blueberries and cranberries.
While the chokeberry has twice as many antioxidants as blueberries, its taste is a challenge. As you may have guessed from the common name, the berries’ juice is astringent and not sweet. But juice from the berries can be made into wine, jam and syrup. The red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is slightly sweeter, and was used by Native Americans to make pemmican. But the red chokeberries probably don’t rank as high as the black ones on the antioxidant chart. The red chokeberry shrub does provide one of the best fall colors available, some saying it’s even better than the fall color of the burning bush.
The two Black Chokeberry species that do well in Colorado are Aronia melanocarpa elata (height 5-8’ x spread 4-6’) and the dwarf Aronia melanocarpa Iroquois Beauty (height 48”-54” x spread 30-36”). These shrubs can tolerate periods of drought once established but prefer more moisture, and are adaptable to various light conditions, but do best is partial shade. Prefers neutral to acidic soil with higher organic content. They do have a suckering habit.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
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by Matt Corrion
The small red berries of this Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) stand out against last week’s gray snowy weather. The berries have persisted all winter, providing a food source for birds long after the previous year’s leaves have fallen off.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
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by Todd Rutherford
I recently discovered a flowering shrub that I thought was a new introduction, but has actually been a gardening staple for generations. I thought it might be a new shrub on the block because I’ve not encountered it in any public or private gardens in our region. Some sources state, however, that it was familiar to gardeners from previous generations. This shrub would be none other than Kolkwitzia amabilis, commonly referred to as the Beauty Bush.
As the common name would imply, Beauty Bush provides a stunning display of gorgeous bell-shaped pink flowers with yellow throats in late spring. The habit of Beauty Bush is vase shaped with sprawling, upright stems. It grows 10-15’ high and 12-15’ wide at maturity. This size would make it a good candidate for a large yard that needs a flowering shrub along the sides or back fence areas. Consider it as a choice for a large flowering hedge.
Best of all, this shrub is drought tolerant, though it can handle moderate watering, and prefers well drained soil. It can grow in full sun to filtered shade, but flowers best in full sun. Luckily for Colorado gardeners it tolerates clay soil and is adaptable to varied soil pH.
PLANT STATS
Scientific Name: Kolkwitzia amabilis
Plant Type: Deciduous Shrub
Mature Height: 10-15’
Mature Spread: 12-15’
Cold Hardiness Zone: 4 – 8.
Water Requirement: Medium, but has moderate drought tolerance. Give it an occasional deep soaking.
Exposure: Sun (will tolerate filtered shade)
Flower Color & Bloom Time: Pink. Spring.
Winter Interest: Exfoliating bark on mature stems.
Best Features: Profusion of small, pink, bell-shaped flowers in spring. Tolerates clay soil, grows in a wide range of soil conditions.
Disadvantages: Twiggy, wild look in winter may be undesirable for some.
Maintenance Tip: Prune out dead wood to reduce twiggy appearance. However keep in mind that it blooms from old wood.
Availability and Sizes: This plant seems to be regularly available. Various cultivars to choose from.
Wildlife Value: unknown
Have you used this shrub in your landscapes? If so, please comment on your experiences below.
This is the official blog of Outdoor Design Group, Colorado Landscape Architects. For more information about our business and our services, click here.
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