i have a ribe plant in my front garden and its been there a few years now,i just want to know if the berries on it which are black when ripe are edible? thankyou
We recently bought a house with a garden which had a couple of true blackcurrant bushes and an ornamental ribes. i severely pruned the fruiting blackcurrants and this year I got enough fruit to make a respectable pie, but I had to abandon picking at one point as the plant was covered in angry black ants. Today I took the loppers to the ornamental currant bush and decided it is coming out. It is in the wrong place and has been allowed to get too leggy anyway, so unfortunately it is not pulling its weight and has to go. We had ornamental ribes mixed in with the privet hedge when I was a kid, and although they have quite nice pink flowers the main impression was the awful smell of cats' pee.
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If it is Ribes sanguineum in one of its forms then yes the berries are edible, but insipid.
Wouldn't bother, grow black or red currants for wonderful fruit, enjoy the ribes for their spring flowers.
We recently bought a house with a garden which had a couple of true blackcurrant bushes and an ornamental ribes. i severely pruned the fruiting blackcurrants and this year I got enough fruit to make a respectable pie, but I had to abandon picking at one point as the plant was covered in angry black ants. Today I took the loppers to the ornamental currant bush and decided it is coming out. It is in the wrong place and has been allowed to get too leggy anyway, so unfortunately it is not pulling its weight and has to go. We had ornamental ribes mixed in with the privet hedge when I was a kid, and although they have quite nice pink flowers the main impression was the awful smell of cats' pee.
thanks guys for your advice