The Best Currant Varieties for Your Garden
Introduction to Currants for your Garden
Currants are an excellent addition to any garden, offering a reliable harvest of juicy, vitamin-rich berries. They are easy to grow, productive, and ideal for a range of culinary uses. Whether you are looking to grow blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, or pinkcurrants, these hardy bushes provide a delicious and rewarding crop year after year.
Growing currants is straightforward, and they thrive in cooler climates with moderate summers. These resilient plants tolerate temperatures as low as -20°C (-4°F), making them well-suited to the UK and similar climates. They require minimal maintenance, with an annual prune and occasional feeding to keep them in top condition. With the right care, currant bushes can produce fruit for over a decade.
Each currant variety has its own unique qualities. Blackcurrants are rich and tangy, perfect for jams and cordials. Redcurrants offer a sharp, vibrant flavour, making them ideal for desserts and sauces. Whitecurrants bring a milder, sweet taste, while pinkcurrants combine the best of both worlds. By growing a mix of varieties, you can enjoy fresh currants throughout the summer months.
With their high yields and versatility, currants deserve a place in every fruit garden. In the sections ahead, you will find expert advice on choosing, planting, and maintaining these productive bushes.
Following is a list of the varieties of Currants available to grow in the UK, helping you select the best options for your garden. To purchase any Currant varieties please check out Swift Plants.
Discover the Best Blackcurrant Varieties for Your Garden
Blackcurrants offer gardeners abundant harvests of vitamin-rich fruits perfect for kitchen creations. These versatile berries thrive in British gardens, providing reliable crops with minimal effort. From the compact ‘Summer Pearls’ to the disease-resistant ‘Titania’, modern varieties suit spaces of all sizes. With their distinctive flavour and impressive health benefits, blackcurrants deserve a place in every fruit garden for summer picking and year-round enjoyment.
Blackcurrant Ben Alder
This robust Scottish blackcurrant variety delivers exceptional harvests of large, juicy berries with rich flavour. Perfect for jam-making and freezing, ‘Ben Alder’ fruits reliably from mid-July. Growing to about 1.5 metres tall, it shows excellent disease resistance and thrives in most garden soils. Its self-fertile nature means you’ll enjoy bountiful crops even with just a single bush. Read More
Blackcurrant Ben Connan
Blackcurrant ‘Ben Connan’ is a fantastic compact variety, thriving in sunny spots. This plant produces large, sweet black berries, perfect for fresh eating or jams. With excellent disease resistance, it adapts well to UK gardens. Expect a bountiful harvest in early summer. Its vibrant green foliage turns golden in autumn, adding seasonal beauty to your garden! Read More
Blackcurrant Ben Sarek
Blackcurrant Ben Sarek is a fantastic variety, known for its juicy, aromatic berries. This compact shrub flourishes in gardens, producing abundant fruit. Its resilience against pests makes it an excellent choice for home growers. Rich in vitamin C and antioxidants, Ben Sarek not only enhances your dishes but also promotes a healthy diet. Enjoy this delicious and versatile blackcurrant! Read More
Blackcurrant Big Ben
Blackcurrant Big Ben is a delightful fruit variety, renowned for its sweet, tangy flavour and vibrant colour. This hardy shrub thrives in various climates, making it a popular choice for gardens. Not only is it a nutritional powerhouse, packed with vitamins and antioxidants, but it also adds a burst of freshness to jams, desserts, and beverages. Enjoy cultivating this versatile berry! Read More
Blackcurrant Ebony
Blackcurrant ‘Ebony’ is a fantastic variety, producing exceptionally large, sweet black berries with a rich flavour. Thriving in full sun, it yields generous crops from mid-summer. This hardy plant features lush green foliage that turns golden in autumn, adding seasonal interest. Perfect for fresh eating, jams, or juices, ‘Ebony’ is easy to grow and highly rewarding! Read More
Blackcurrant Summer Pearls Patio Black
This compact blackcurrant variety is perfect for small spaces and container growing. Reaching just 1 metre tall, it produces deliciously sweet berries up to 1cm in size during early summer. The glossy black fruits offer a distinctive flavour that’s wonderful fresh or in jams. Hardy and easy to grow, this patio blackcurrant thrives in sunny positions and attracts helpful pollinators to your garden! Read More
Blackcurrant Titania
‘Titania’ stands out as a robust blackcurrant variety with exceptional disease resistance. This vigorous bush produces abundant crops of large, glossy black berries with superb flavour. Growing to nearly 2 metres tall, it offers impressive harvests from late July. Perfect for jams and cooking, ‘Titania’ thrives in most garden conditions and rewards minimal effort with years of reliable fruiting. Read More
Discovering the Charm of Pinkcurrants in British Gardens
These charming fruit bushes produce translucent, blush-pink berries that brighten any garden. Pinkcurrants offer a delightful balance of sweetness and gentle acidity, making them perfect for decorative desserts and summer puddings. Their jewel-like fruits appear in mid-summer on easily managed bushes reaching just over a metre tall. Less common than their red cousins, pinkcurrants bring unique colour and flavour to the fruit garden.
Pinkcurrant Gloire de Sablons
This charming heritage variety produces translucent pink berries with a delightfully sweet flavour. Growing to 1.5 metres tall, ‘Gloire de Sablon’ offers stunning ornamental value alongside its delicious fruits. The pretty pink currants ripen in July and make exceptional jams and summer desserts. Hardy and self-fertile, this unusual currant thrives in most garden soils and rewards minimal care with bountiful harvests. Read More
Reliable Redcurrant Varieties for UK Gardens
Redcurrants bring vibrant colour and tangy flavour to British gardens with their jewel-like clusters of berries. These ornamental fruit bushes combine striking visual appeal with culinary versatility throughout summer. From the classic ‘Jonkheer van Tets’ to the high-yielding ‘Rovada’, today’s varieties offer improved disease resistance and productivity. Perfect for jams, jellies and summer puddings, redcurrants thrive in most garden situations with minimal maintenance.
Redcurrant Jonkheer van Tets
This Dutch classic delivers early harvests of bright red berries with exceptional flavour and juice content. ‘Jonkheer van Tets’ ripens in early July, giving gardeners a head start on summer preserves. The upright bushes grow to about 1.5 metres tall and show good resistance to common diseases. Perfect for jam-making and summer puddings, this reliable variety thrives in most garden soils. Read More
Redcurrant Junifer
‘Junifer’ earns its place in gardens as the earliest ripening redcurrant variety. This French cultivar produces abundant clusters of bright red berries from early July, extending the currant season. Growing to a manageable height of around 1.2 metres, it forms an upright, compact bush. The medium-sized fruits offer excellent flavour with balanced sweetness and acidity for fresh eating and summer preserves. Read More
Redcurrant Rovada
‘Rovada’ leads the pack among redcurrant varieties with its impressive clusters of bright red berries. This Dutch cultivar produces extraordinarily long strigs that hang beautifully from the bush like natural jewellery. Ripening in late July, it offers exceptional yields of large, juicy fruits with perfect tartness for jams and jellies. Hardy and disease-resistant, ‘Rovada’ thrives in most garden soils. Read More
Popular Whitecurrant Varieties for UK Gardens
Whitecurrants bring elegance and diversity to the fruit garden with their translucent, pearl-like berries. These stunning fruits offer a sweeter, less acidic flavour profile than their red cousins. Perfect for fresh eating and creating spectacular summer desserts, whitecurrants thrive in British gardens with minimal fuss.
Whitecurrant Blanka
‘Blanka’ stands out among whitecurrants for its exceptional productivity and large, pearl-like berries. This vigorous bush produces stunning, translucent white fruits with a refreshingly sweet flavour and less acidity than redcurrants. Growing to around 1.2 metres tall, it offers reliable harvests from mid-July. Perfect for fresh eating, summer puddings and creating elegant jellies, ‘Blanka’ thrives in most garden situations. Read More
Whitecurrant White Versailles
This classic whitecurrant produces stunning translucent berries with a deliciously sweet-tart flavour. The elegant clusters ripen to a creamy white in July, creating a beautiful display against green foliage. Growing to about 1.5 metres tall, ‘White Versailles’ thrives in most garden soils. Its milder taste compared to redcurrants makes it perfect for fresh eating and summer desserts. Read More