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Ken Roth

Grandma Ethel Black Currant

Grandma Ethel Black Currant

Species: Ribes nigrum

History: This black currant is a family classic that was grown by Ken's great-grandmother.

Why We Grow It: Grandma Ethel produces large fruit with a slightly stronger flavour than Titania and an unusual sweetness for a currant. The berries make a very tasty juice - the recipe can be found further below!

A note on the "Grandma" Series: Inspired by this modest currants' success here at the nursery, we decided to curate our own repertoire of family favourites! Check out our tried-n-true gooseberries, rhubarb and raspberries.

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, juice

Ken's Black Currant Juice (per quart jar)

1 cup of Grandma Ethel black currants
1/2 cup honey
Mix the currants and honey into a quart jar and fill the rest with water. Process in a canner for 25 minutes.

Fruit Size: Large

Storage: Keeps up to two weeks when stored in the fridge

Harvest: July - Early

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 3

Soil Preference: Loam, prefers well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter

Flowering Time:

Bloom Colour: Pinkish-white

Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, this variety will produce fruit without a different black currant variety but will produce more and better fruit if one is present

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Prefers full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily) but will tolerate some shade

General Growth Habits:

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Our ungrafted fruit tree seedlings, nut tree seedlings, berries, and other miscellaneous plants are categorized into the following sizes excluding the roots:

  • 5-15cm
  • 15cm+
  • 30cm+
  • 60cm+
  • 90cm+

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

Size
Regular price $22.00 CAD
Regular price Sale price $22.00 CAD
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