Redflower Currant, Flowering Currant, Winter Currant 'King Edward VII'

Grown for its showy flowers in tulip season, this has the most deeply colored flowers of any cultivar, a deep brilliant fuchsia red. The ...Read Morebluish fruit is edible but insipid and best used to feed the birds, who wait till nothing tastier is available.

Grown as a upright suckering shrub it reaches 5-8' tall and 2/3 as wide. It can be pruned as a tree form, and can (rarely) reach 12', but is generally more attractive as a shrub.

Generally considered hardy only to Z6.

Native to western coastal N. America from mid-BC to mid-California. This is an alternative host to white pine blister rust, a devastating disease of the commercially important white pine. Some eastern states prohibit its planting. Spores travel on the wind and can infect pines as far as 300 miles away.

I love this little tree form shrub. I just planted it last year in an unforgiving spot in full sun with only occasional watering. I did...Read More start out watering it more when I first planted but it's 200 feet away from the water source and as the summer wore on and on, I watered less and less. It never did look too perky last year, but neither did the ones in the nursery. This year after a mild but very wet winter it is looking great with nice clusters of flowers. I also planted a beautiful bush type that has pale pink flowers in the same exposed island. That one took off right from the get-go and is full of flower buds this spring. This bush/small tree can handle stressful situations and a little neglect and survive. I also like that the tree form only gets to 15 feet and keeps a narrow shape so it doesn't overwhelm the area and later-blooming flowers. A great, great bush that attracts many comments and questions. It's on a site that gets excellent drainage and can get dry in the summer with relentless hot sun. Soil is on the sandy side with a mulch layer.

I planted this shrub last spring. We had a terrible drought last summer which killed many young shrubs. This is planted in a sunny dry s...Read Morepot that gets lots of wind. The blooms this spring were just gorgeous. They were an electric neon deep fushia and really stood out against the dark green needles of the neighboring spruce.