Reich

CONTINUES FROM PAGE F5 at their bases some of the oldest and the youngest branches. This way, there is always enough — but not too much — young vigorous growth on the bush. I also fertilize the soil beneath the plants each year with either soybean meal or strawy horse manure.

This is not to say that my plants are coddled. I never water established plants nor do I spray for pests. Actually, my flowering currants never have had any pests that warranted spraying. Even rabbits and

Compost

CONTINUES FROM PAGE F2 deer leave these plants alone.

In spite of flowering currant’s beauty and aroma, ornamental qualities were secondary when I chose to grow this plant. The fruit is what attracted me. The shiny, black berries, a half to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, ripen in midsummer. They are slightly tart, and very aromatic: excellent for jellies and jams, but to my taste fine for popping into my mouth right out in the garden also. The berries tend to ripen over a long period of time in summer, so it’s a good idea to freeze them as they ripen in order to get enough for a batch of jelly or jam. You’re not likely to find flowering currant plants lined up for sale with potted forsythias, spireas, and apples at most garden centers. The plant is not now widely available, even though superior varieties such as ‘Deseret’ and ‘Missouri Black’ were selected a hundred years ago. The plant was a common dooryard shrub a hundred plus years ago, planted near porches or windows so that the delicious fragrance could be enjoyed. I can just picture scraggly bushes of ‘Crandall’ — once a widely planted ornamental variety — flowering near porches of white, clapboard farmhouses in the early part of the last century. Flowering currant, one of the fruits featured in my book Landscaping with Fruit, is not common today, but still is worth planting for its fragrance, its beauty, and its fruit. And because it’s so easy to grow.

Any gardening questions? Email them to me at garden@leereich.com and I’ll try answering them directly or in this column. Come visit my garden at leereich.com/ blog