Clove Currant (Ribes odoratum)
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
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
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
