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edible

Blackcurrant

Ribes nigrum

Climate-suitable non-native

Growing guidance

Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.

Current-climate suitability

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Future-climate resilience

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Sun

Sun or shade

Soil moisture

average, moisture-retentive

Heat tolerance

Up to about 34°C

Cold tolerance

Down to about -30°C

Waterlogging tolerance

4/5

Drought tolerance

2/5

Mature size

1.2–1.8 m tall, 1.5 m spread

Seasonal interest

Summer fruit · Green flower

Maintenance

medium

Wildlife supported

General wildlife value 4/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)

How to plant it

General steps for this plant. Save a garden and these become specific to your location, soil and light.

  1. Step 1When to plant

    Plant during March to May, once the risk of frost has passed.

    Timing depends on your last frost date.

  2. Step 2Where to put it

    Choose sun or shade — this plant tolerates both. Allow 1.5 m of room around it — mature spread is 1.5 m and mature height 1.2–1.8 m.

    Light in your garden is not answered, so this is the plant's own requirement.

  3. Step 3Preparing the ground

    Dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball and no deeper, loosen the sides, and plant so the top of the root ball is level with the surrounding soil.

    Soil is not answered. This plant grows in average, moisture-retentive conditions.

  4. Step 4Watering while it establishes

    Water thoroughly at planting (5–10 litres), then only when the top few centimetres of soil are dry, through the first growing season.

    Even a drought-tolerant plant (2/5 here) only becomes drought-tolerant once established.

  5. Step 5Mulch

    Spread 5–7 cm of composted bark or garden compost around the plant, keeping it clear of the stem.

    Mulch cuts water loss and suppresses weeds through the first summer, when losses are most likely.

  6. Step 6The first year

    Check watering weekly in summer, remove competing weeds, and tidy dead growth at the end of the season.

    Maintenance level on the plant record is medium.

  7. Step 7What to watch for

    Needs winter chill and annual renewal pruning.

    Taken from the plant record and your measured climate figures, not from a general description.

Spacing: about 1.5 m apart — roughly 4 plants for every 10 m² if planted as a group.

What this guide could not use

  • No location saved, so planting times are general rather than local.
  • Soil moisture is not answered, so soil preparation is general advice.
  • Light is not answered, so the position below is the plant's own preference.
  • Whether you can water is not answered, so watering assumes hand watering.
Answer five questions to make this specific

Built by fixed rules from: Plant record for Blackcurrant (last reviewed 2026-06-01). Planting guide version gf-planting-1.0.0. Timings and volumes are practitioner estimates for planning, not a substitute for local nursery advice.

Known risks or warnings

Needs winter chill and annual renewal pruning.

Toxicity: none

Status and jurisdiction

Climate-suitable non-native in United Kingdom (Great Britain).

Register consulted: GBIF Backbone Taxonomy distributions for Great Britain

Record review status: reviewed · last reviewed 2026-06-01 · plant data version gf-plants-2026.09.18. Status claims are never inferred from climate similarity, and growing figures are estimates pending expert review.

Verified botanical record

Accepted scientific name
Ribes nigrum L.
Family
Grossulariaceae (Saxifragales)
Rank and status
species · accepted
GBIF record
Taxon 2986192

Recorded native range: Belgium, Brussels-Capital Region, Flanders, Flemish Region, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Walloon Region

Recorded as introduced in: Austria, Belgium, Channel Is., Connecticut, England, Falkland Is., France, Great Britain, Hungary, Illinois, Inner Mongolia, Ireland and 34 further regions

Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.

The blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), black currant or cassis is a deciduous shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its edible berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia, where it prefers damp fertile soils. It is widely cultivated both commercially and domestically. It is winter hardy, but cold weather at flowering time during the spring may reduce the size of the crop. Bunches of small, glossy black fruit develop along the stems in the summer and can be harvested by hand or by machine.

Description from Wikipedia — Blackcurrant (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.

Native status and geographic context

  • United Kingdom: climate-suitable
  • United States: climate-suitable
  • Australia: climate-suitable

Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.

What to do next

Create a Garden Profile to see whether this plant suits your conditions.

Demonstration data

These figures come from the demonstration dataset kept for testing and as a fallback when the measured climate service is unavailable. They are representative, not observed, and are never presented as validated live data.