If you want to decorate your site with a winter-hardy shrub with high decorative qualities, but easy to care for, then you will surely like alpine currant. It has several different forms and types, including dwarf ones, with yellow or red leaves. The shrub lends itself perfectly to a curly haircut, which allows you to create a hedge or interesting objects from it.
Alpine currant: photo and description
This deciduous shrub in its natural environment is widely distributed in Europe, Western Turkey, the Caucasus, Morocco and North Africa. In Russia, it can be found even in Western Siberia. It prefers to grow along the banks of rivers, on light edges and clearings, in mixed forests.
Alpine currant is a shrub reaching a height of one and a half meters with compactly arranged branches densely covered with foliage. The flowers are greenish-yellow in drooping racemes. The leaves are shaped like a regular garden form, three-lobed, up to 4 centimeters wide, dark green, glossy. Berries are small, 6-8 mm in diameter, pinkcolor. The shrub blooms in May-June, and fruiting begins in July and lasts until August, depending on weather conditions. The berries are edible, but the taste is low, so the plant is grown more as an ornamental.
Location on the site
Like most ornamental leafy plants, alpine currant (see photo in the article) prefers well-lit areas where there will be a sufficient amount of solar heat. Choose a place where there is no groundwater passing nearby. If seedlings are planted in groups or to form a hedge in the future, then a distance of a meter or even one and a half must be left between them. This is necessary for good lighting and proper development. Establishment is best in seedlings with a closed root system planted in containers. They cost a little more, but more often than not, it pays off, especially if you need one or a couple of bushes.
The timing of alpine currant transplantation and planting is the same as for any other shrub. You can do this in spring or autumn, before the cold weather sets in, so that the plant has time to get stronger.
Shrub soil
Alpine currant is not too demanding on the composition of the soil. Depending on the variety, the criterion of soil acidity can change, even tolerate light salinity. If you want the shrub to develop well and please with its decorative appearance, then prepare a nutritious one before planting.soil.
Approximate dimensions of the landing pit - 505050 cm, drainage is not required. Use humus, soddy soil, sand. If you are preparing a place in the fall, then add mineral fertilizers, and in the spring carefully dig the area under the bush again.
Shrub care
Alpine currant does not require too much attention. The main care is watering, fertilizing with fertilizers and timely pruning, the formation of a bush. Compost or humus is recommended to be applied to the soil at least once a year in spring, mineral complex preparations - twice (in April-May and after flowering).
Formative and sanitary pruning of shoots should be done before the start of sap flow, that is, in late March - early April.
Alpine currant, described as a drought tolerant crop, still needs watering for normal growth and development. If the season turned out to be too hot, then it is necessary to water the shrub 2-3 times at the rate of 5-6 liters of water per copy. We advise you to use a method such as drip irrigation. This will not only save water, but also contribute to its best absorption by the plant.
Pests and diseases
Like the usual garden form, the alpine currant is susceptible to pest attack. The most common are aphids, spider mites, and rust. In order not to save the bushes from all sorts of misfortunes on an emergency basis, experts recommend carrying outpreventive treatment of various kinds of fungicidal and insecticidal preparations. The first, for example, include "Fitosporin", "Acrobat", "Ridomilom", "Ordan" and others. But "Fitoverm", "Aktellik", "Karbofos", etc. will help you get rid of insect pests. There are modern methods of biological control of insects, when some species oppress others, while not damaging and in no way affecting the plant.
Alpine currant propagation
The shrub can be easily propagated in several ways: by seeds, layering and woody cuttings. In the first case, the best time for planting is spring or immediately after the berries ripen. Seeds must be stratified. With spring sowing, its period should be 2-3 months. The most optimal planting depth is 0.5 cm. You can sow immediately in open ground on a prepared site or in seedling boxes.
The easiest way to propagate is cuttings. The material should be harvested from annual shoots of the first row of branching or basal ones. The length of the cutting is 15-20 cm, the thickness is at least 0.5 cm. The best time is early autumn (September). Having started roots, young plants will have time to get stronger, and in the spring they will immediately begin to grow.
Alpine currant can also be propagated by horizontal, arcuate and vertical layering. At the same time, branches and shoots are rooted with good growth, best of all two-year-olds. Possible division of the currant bush.
At the moment there are many forms and varieties, but we want to note the most common and well-known.
Alpine currant Schmidt
Compact shrub variety with dense branching. The leaves are three-lobed, up to 4 cm long, saturated dark green in color, in autumn they turn into bright yellow tones. The time of flowering comes in May, small green flowers are collected in brushes. Later, inedible spherical fruits appear. The berries ripen in July-August and stand out sharply against a dark green background, which makes them even more decorative.
Alpine Schmidt currant (see photo above) grows quite slowly (up to 15 cm per year), so it is recommended to plant it as a hedge, in groups on a lawn or edges. It is a long-lived shrub, growing up to 40 years. It is shade-tolerant, drought-resistant, frost-resistant. The Schmidt variety is demanding on soils and prefers light and medium loams, sandy loamy soil. If you prefer to prepare the substrate for planting yourself, then mix peat, sand and turf in a ratio of 1:1:1.
Golden Currant (Alpine)
Alpine Golden currant got its name due to the characteristic color of young leaves. This is a dwarf shrub that grows up to 1 meter in height. Golden alpine currant is most beautiful during flowering, when the bush is as if woven from lace. This impression is created due to small pale yellow flowers located on short racemes. At the end of summer, the shrub is covered with manyjuicy bright red berries. They are tasteless, so the plant is used exclusively for decorative purposes. Soil requirements and other characteristics are similar to those of the previous variety.
Whatever your site, large or small, light or in partial shade, alpine currant (photos are presented in the article) will always come to the rescue in its gardening. Single or group plantings, hedges, tapeworms with bright and juicy dark green foliage will be a real decoration. And in autumn, decorative forms will turn purple or yellow, strewn with red berries.
Armed with a pruner, you can easily create curly hedges, simple geometric shapes and complex compositions from elegant bushes. Add to this the minimum care and high resistance of the species to various adverse environmental conditions.
