california native flora

Ribes Speciosum – Fuchsia-flowering Gooseberry

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Ribes Speciosum is a very spikey California native shrub that makes a great barrier if you want to keep animals and people out of your yard. I should fill our garden with this, maybe stop all those inept golfers coming over the wall to get their balls back? That’s an option for the future. Right now I’ll stick with the single specimen to see how it does in our climate.

I have it in a wooden planter in part sun. It’s by a wall where I hope foot traffic is at a minimum. It’s right next to our Rosa Californica – the plan is to keep the jaggy plants away from people reducing injuries and snagged clothing. In favorable conditions Fuchsia-flowering Gooseberry will grow over 5′ tall. It produces large numbers of bight red dangling fuchsia-like flowers that hummingbirds adore. Red colored fruits come along later to keep the other birds amused. It has a moderate growth rate and in the height of summer it will most likely lose all it’s leaves as it enters a short dormancy period. New leaves will grow back as the temperature cools into autumn. Drought tolerant once established.