LIke Hummingbirds? Plant a Red-flowering Currant - soon !

Red-flowing Currant is a great northwest native shrub, growing mostly on the wetside of the cascades. Although not actually 'red' they're pretty bright colored, in various deep pink, or rose colors.

I don't know about you, but I like my Red-flowering Currants of a bright color, and I expect that hummers do too. The trouble is that the plant comes in a number of flower colors. As a perfessional landscape gardener I've planted many over the year's in client's gardens . Nothing burns this gardener's biscuits more than planting a bunch of 'red' currants, only to find the next year that the flowers are white, or a very pale pink ! What a drag ! The problem is that all these color flower selections are on plant's that can't be distinguished from each other out of bloom. Things happen at plant nurseries, as they shuffle their stock about, ect. Plants get their labels mixed up. So that 'king edward VII' (a generally darker variety) or 'Pulborough scarlet" (even darker and deeper colored) that you got in a nursery pot out of bloom may be a dud.

So now it's the time ! At least around Seattle/Everett/points north because they're blooming now at the nurseries and you can pick the color you want (even properly labeled selections can vary some). An option is to mark well colored plants in the ground, in a garden or in the wild , and propigate them yourself. They come pretty easily from cuttings in the late dormant season. Also they may 'layer' themselves - on a broad plant sometimes a lower branch will touch the ground and root itself at a leaf node. In late winter just cut off the 'mother branch' and you've got yourself a shrub. A bit of restrained pruning wont hurt the plant a bit.

In future springs you might have that warm fuzzy feeling that can come when you see a Hummer coming up to the currant you planted one day. Bonus points of the plant are berries in fall (for wildlife) and an attractive subtle fall color of subdued gold..

Jeff Gibson
currantly in Everett Wa