Clove Currant Ribes odoratum is a Michigan Native plant available at Wild Cherry Farm
Clove Currant Ribes odoratum is a Michigan Native plant available at Wild Cherry Farm

Clove Currant (Ribes odoratum)

$10.75
Out of Stock

Clove Currant is one of my all-time favorite shrubs! Native west of Michigan, but I include it because it blooms so early, the flowers smell sooo good (like cloves), and those early bees love it. Hummingbirds visit the flowers if they are still around when they get to Michigan and it produces edible berries that birds, such as American Robin, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Cedar Waxwing, seem to like (illinoiswildflower.info). Clove Currant is such a gift in the spring, with its pop of yellow and those spicy flowers in April.

Photo credit: Leonora Enking

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Clove Currant is one of my all-time favorite shrubs! Native west of Michigan, but I include it because it blooms so early, the flowers smell sooo good (like cloves), and those early bees love it. Hummingbirds visit the flowers if they are still around when they get to Michigan and it produces edible berries that birds, such as American Robin, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Cedar Waxwing, seem to like (illinoiswildflower.info). Clove Currant is such a gift in the spring, with its pop of yellow and those spicy flowers in April.

Photo credit: Leonora Enking

Life Cycle: Perennial 

Sun Exposure: Full-Partial

Soil Moisture: Medium-Med/dry

Height: 3-7 feet

Plant Spacing:  3-4 feet

Bloom Time: April-May

Bloom Color: Yellow

Advantages: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Deer Resistant

Host: Maybe the same as Ribes Americanum, but I could find any specifics

Specialist Bee: Andrena nivalis (Johnson and Colla, 2023)

Beneficial for Endangered or Threatened Species: Hoary Comma (Polygonia gracilis) (mnfi.anr.msu.edu)

Resource: Johnson, Lorraine, and Sheila Colla. A Northern Gardener’s Guide to Native Plants and Pollinators: Creating Habitat in the Northeast, Great Lakes, and Upper Midwest. Island Press, 2023

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