There’s a Morning in July When the Sun Shines through Each Redcurrant Berry, and You Can Almost Judge Ripeness Just by the Glow.

Generous Crops Of Jewel‑Bright Berries

Redcurrants (Ribes rubrum) are wonderfully generous little bushes. Once established, each plant can carry strings of translucent, ruby‑red berries along its branches in early to mid‑summer, sometimes so densely that the foliage almost disappears behind them. The flavour is sharp and refreshing, perfect for jellies, sauces, pavlovas and fruit salads, and the high pectin content makes them brilliant for helping other fruits set in jams. In a typical Cambridgeshire garden, a small row of redcurrants will provide more than enough for the kitchen, with plenty left over to freeze for winter puddings.

  • Generous Crops Of Jewel‑Bright Berries
  • Compact Habit That Fits Real‑World Gardens
  • Hardy, Reliable And Easy To Look After

Redcurrants at a Glance:

Common name: Redcurrant

Latin name: Ribes rubrum

Size in UK gardens: Typically around 1.2–1.5m tall and wide as a bush; can be kept a little smaller with pruning or trained as cordons or fans.

Best position: A sunny, reasonably sheltered spot; will tolerate light shade, but best yields and sweetest fruit are in full sun.

Soil: Fertile, moisture‑retentive but well‑drained soil with plenty of organic matter; dislikes very dry, thin or waterlogged ground. In pots, use a rich, loam‑based compost.

Flowering time: Modest greenish‑white flowers in spring; fruit ripens from early to mid‑summer depending on variety and local climate.

Fragrance: Leaves and berries have a light, sharp “curranty” scent when crushed; flowers are not strongly fragrant.

Hardiness: Fully hardy across the UK once established.

Care level: Moderate – easy once you understand the pruning and keep up with watering and mulching.
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Home-grown, backed by local specialists.

The Simpson’s team raises the majority of our trees here at the nursery. For varieties outside our own production, we work with independent local growers we trust - all chosen for UK climate suitability.

Redcurrants Care at a Glance:

Planting time: As container‑grown plants, redcurrants can be planted in most months when the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged; late autumn and early spring are often easiest. Bare‑root plants are best put in during the dormant season from late autumn to early spring.

Watering: Water regularly in the first couple of years, and in dry spells thereafter, particularly from flowering through to fruit swell. Aim for consistently moist soil rather than cycles of very dry then very wet.

Feeding: Each spring, mulch generously around the base with compost or well‑rotted manure, and on poorer soils add a balanced fertiliser to support strong growth and good crops. In pots, use a slow‑release feed and top up with liquid feeds in the growing season.

Pruning: Redcurrants fruit mainly on short spurs carried on older wood. In winter, thin out some of the oldest stems and shorten new side shoots, keeping an open, upright framework with plenty of well‑spaced fruiting spurs.

Winter: In the ground, redcurrants usually need no special winter protection beyond their mulch. Container plants may benefit from being moved to a slightly more sheltered spot to protect roots from severe cold and repeated freezing and thawing.

Varieties We Usually Stock

Availability is always changing, so please check with us if you have a particular variety in mind.

Ribes ‘Jonkheer Van Tets’

Ribes ‘Rolan’

Ribes ‘Rovada’

Ribes ‘Stanza’

A classic early redcurrant, loved for its long trusses of bright, glossy berries and a fresh, tangy flavour. It’s perfect for summer puddings, jellies and garnishes, and it looks wonderfully decorative when laden with fruit. A great choice if you want the redcurrant season to start early.

A reliable redcurrant with good, steady cropping and firm berries that hold well on the plant, giving you a nice picking window. The flavour is nicely balanced—tart enough for jelly, but very good in desserts too. A solid, garden-friendly variety for dependable harvests.

One of the best known for heavy crops of long, elegant strings of bright red berries that look superb and taste excellent. It’s brilliant for late-season picking, extending the redcurrant harvest, and the berries are perfect for freezing, jellies and summer puddings. A wonderfully productive choice.

A good modern redcurrant with strong cropping and attractive trusses of bright berries, giving plenty of fruit for the kitchen. The flavour is fresh and sharp—ideal for jellies, sauces and baking—and it’s a useful choice when you want a reliable, productive plant with a neat, garden-friendly habit.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, redcurrants are a very good choice for gardeners who are new to fruit. They don’t need complicated supports, cope well with typical UK weather, and are quite forgiving if you’re a bit tentative with pruning at first. As long as you give them a reasonably fertile, moisture‑retentive soil, a sunny or lightly shaded position, and keep up with mulching and watering in dry spells, they tend to reward you well. The main thing to learn is the simple winter pruning routine, but once you’ve done it once or twice it quickly becomes part of the yearly rhythm.

Redcurrants are well suited to smaller spaces because they stay relatively compact and respond nicely to training. In a small garden, you can grow them as bushes in a short row, or as slim cordons along a fence or path to save ground space. In pots, choose a large container with a loam‑based compost, stand it in a sunny, sheltered spot and water and feed regularly. Yields in containers may be a little lower than in a deep bed, but a potted redcurrant near the back door can still give you more than enough fruit for jellies, desserts and a few tubs in the freezer.

The basic pattern is to prune in late winter or early spring, while bushes are dormant. Focus on maintaining an open, upright framework with plenty of short, fruiting spurs. Remove any dead, damaged or crossing branches, take out some of the oldest stems at the base to encourage new growth, and shorten new side shoots to a few buds. This encourages lots of well‑placed spurs that carry strings of berries the following summer. A light summer tidy, trimming back very long new shoots, can help keep the shape compact and improve air flow.

Redcurrants will tolerate light shade, which is handy if your garden isn’t south‑facing, but they really crop and colour best in good sun. In Cambridgeshire and similar areas, a sunny, reasonably sheltered position is ideal. Frost mainly threatens the flowers: a sharp late frost in spring can damage blossom and reduce that year’s crop, particularly in obvious frost pockets. The bushes themselves are hardy. If you know your garden is prone to late frosts, site redcurrants away from the very lowest ground and be ready to throw a layer of fleece over plants on frosty nights when they’re in flower.