clove currant: ribes odoratum, or ribes aureum var. villosum

WHAT NATIVE AMERICAN SHRUB smells like cloves right now, with a profusion of golden flowers, and handsome lobed foliage (which will turn nice warm colors in fall)? Another clue: It would have fruit, too, if you had both a male and a female plant. It’s the clove currant, which I know as Ribes odoratum, and woody plant expert Michael Dirr calls it “a rare gem in the shrub world.”

The clove currant, which in some references is listed as synonymous with Ribes aureum var.

villosum, is native to the central United States, specifically “Minnesota and South Dakota, south to Arkansas and Texas,” reports “Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs.” My friend and fruit expert Lee Reich points out that odoratum and aureum are two distinct species, and grows both (you can see his comment below).

I first smelled the plant in my friend Bob Hyland’s garden—for that is how it goes with this one if you are anywhere near it in spring; your nose leads you to it. Before I even noticed the screaming yellow flowers, I followed my nose.

It blooms for weeks beginning around the same time as Amelanchier and then right through Viburnum carlesii and beyond here—and is often still at it along with the start of my lilacs and crabapples.Eventually the clove currant (hardy in Zone 4-8) will get to 6 feet high and wide or slightly larger, and eventually may sucker, forming a colony as it does in nature. Again, if I had a male and a female I’d get fruit–which the birds would be happy about.

The variety of clove currant called ‘Crandall’ is the one you’ll find if you can track this plant down, at mail-order nurseries such as High Country Gardens. It would make a great hedge; I planted mine right inside my front gate, so I have to inhale it every time I come.

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