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Ribes speciosum (Fuchsia-flowering Gooseberry) - This California native deciduous shrub grows as tall as 10 feet tall by 7 feet wide but is typically seen much smaller, usually no taller than about 4 feet. It has horizontal then arching branches that celebrate the new year with the emergence of the new shiny leathery rounded leaves that are shallowly divided into lobes with narrow sharp spines between the leaf nodes. In winter to mid-spring appear the very attractive pendulous tubular red flowers with long exerted red stamens along the branches and these are followed by round red currant fruit that are decoratively held through the summer.
Plant in full sun (coastal), light or afternoon shade in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to not at all - this is a drought tolerant plant in coastal gardens but tolerates more water if given it and will go late summer dormant if not irrigated. It is cold hardy to 10° F or less. A very good plant for growing under our native oaks and it is one of the showiest of the native shrubs. The flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds and the fruit attracts other birds.
Ribes speciosum is native to the coastal sage scrub and chaparral communities in California and Baja California, where it grows in the coastal and transverse mountain ranges from the bay area south into Baja California. The name Ribes comes from the Syrian or Kurdish 'ribas', a name for other plants in this genus. The specific epithet is Latin for "showy". We have grown this plant on and off since 1985. Image on this webpage courtesy of the Theodore Payne Foundation.
The information displayed on this page about Ribes speciosum is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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