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Despite the fact that modern landscape designers are increasingly trying to move away from the Soviet-type garden, various berry bushes do not lose their popularity when decorating the space of a site. One of them is black currant. In light of new trends in garden design, a blackcurrant hedge would be an interesting solution.
Currant bushes in landscape design
Landscape designers love to use berry bushes to decorate the landscape, as they are very good for placing accents or zoning space. In addition, due to the different heights of individual species, you can assemble a separate composition that will represent a “delicious” corner of the garden. Currants are mainly used in three cases:
- As the center of a flower arrangement around which a flower bed is planted. Here the currants act as an accent that gives the design more organization.
- As a separator between plantings. Thanks to this use, other plants will remain within their boundaries. This technique comes into play when black currants are planted at the base of alpine hills.
- Like a zoning fence. Blackcurrant bushes can be of any height up to three meters, so with proper care they make excellent hedges. Thanks to them, you can divide the space, hide a fence or metal crossbars.
Features of a currant hedge
Most often, currants are used to create a hedge around part of the site, replacing or supplementing the fence with it. The shrub is excellent for these purposes for several reasons:
- The plant calmly takes root in the Russian climate and after it has finally taken root, it is not afraid of drought or excessive humidity;
- Currant bushes grow widely, thanks to which they create a dense green wall if they are planted next to each other;
- The bush has no thorns, but has beautiful wide leaves that turn yellow with the onset of autumn;
- The plant blooms with small flowers that are pleasing to the eye, resembling bells in shape;
- There are several types of blackcurrant, and they all differ in height, so it will be quite easy to choose the one that is needed in a particular situation.
Despite the fact that currants are relatively unpretentious, when planting they need to create comfortable conditions for the plant to take root. For this purpose, you need to cultivate the soil in which you plan to plant the shrub. To do this, add half a kilo of tree bark and 200 g of humus to the hole under the currant to make it easier for the bush to take root. In addition, in the first three to four years, the bushes must be fertilized and watered in the summer so that they begin to bear fruit.
Currant varieties for hedges
There are 14 varieties of currants in total, but most of them are not suitable for landscape design.Only two types of crops are in special demand: black and golden currants. They are both very beautiful and totally suitable for fencing, but still have a few important differences.
Blackcurrant bushes can be of any height, so they are suitable for both external and internal zoning of a site. More often they are used in the second case, since they make a sparser green hedge. The plant bears black, brown or dark purple berries in late summer and flowers with small white bells. The berries can be used to make preserves, jams, sauces or eaten unprocessed. In autumn, you shouldn’t expect a lot of colorful leaves from blackcurrant - the bush remains green for a long time, then somewhere closer to October it quickly turns yellow and loses its leaves. The height of the crop usually reaches no more than 1.5 meters.
Photo of a blackcurrant hedge:
Golden currants have a more decorative purpose than black currants. Berries also grow on it, but they are much inferior in taste to the previous described variety. But it blooms with bright yellow flowers that cover the entire bush, and in the fall golden currants can delight you with multi-colored colorful leaves.
In addition, its bushes grow up to three meters in height, making it suitable for hedges along a fence.
How to plant a currant hedge?
Planting black and golden currants should not cause any problems: the process is quite simple and does not require much physical or time investment. In total it consists of 5 stages:
- Mark the area where the bushes will be planted. To create a hedge, plants should be placed in a straight line at a distance of half a meter to a meter from each other.
- Next, you need to dig up the soil and dig holes for the seedlings, which should be half a meter wide and deep.
- Then you need to add fertilizer, tree bark and a little humus to each hole to make it easier for the plants to take root.
- Now you can plant the seedling. Depending on the variety, it is important to dig in between a third and half of the seedling, this will make it easier for it to take root. Before planting, pour half a bucket of water into the hole.
- After the plants are planted, it is again important to water them and sprinkle them with black soil.
How to care for a currant hedge
A blackcurrant hedge does not require much maintenance, but it is very important to trim it on time so that it maintains its shape. This treatment should begin when the bushes reach 40–60 cm in height. If you miss this moment and do not have time to give them shape when they are still small, then it will be quite difficult to manage the grown plants in the hedge. Blackcurrant grows quickly, so its branches will climb in all directions and spoil the original plan.If you give it shape early, then these problems will be avoided, since in this case you will not have to completely redo the silhouette of the bush, but only trim off the extra branches.
In addition, for the first two to three years it is very important to fertilize the plants and water them during the fruiting period, so that they quickly grow and form a hedge.
Landscape tricks with currants in the garden
As mentioned earlier, black and golden currants can be added to the landscape as an accent or as a limit to other vegetation, but these crops can also act as a separate decorative element. There are several ways to do this:
- You can create a composition from bushes of different heights to create a kind of level landscaping. This technique can be used on hilly or uneven terrain to visually level out the terrain. In addition, such a composition can be planted along an alpine hill to create a parallel to it, but then the bushes will act not as a separate element of the garden, but as an accent;
- You can create a small berry garden separately from the main one, which could act as a zone of peace and quiet. Blackcurrant bushes provide excellent shade and do not attract many insects, so nothing can interfere with a relaxing time in this corner;
- You can plant currants along the paths, and then during the flowering and fruiting period they will decorate the garden no worse than individual flower pots.
Option for a blackcurrant hedge along the paths in the photo:
Conclusion
A blackcurrant hedge is a great opportunity to create a unique landscape.This species, along with golden currant, despite the fact that it is not strictly an ornamental plant, can perform several landscape functions, including space zoning. In addition, it adds “taste” to the garden, because its berries are the same symbol of summer as strawberries or watermelons. In any case, the presence of a crop on the site will definitely decorate the landscape, and the ease of caring for it will significantly save gardeners time and effort.
