# What is this bush?



## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

We have several in the pigs pasture.


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## dizzy (Jun 25, 2013)

Does it have opposite leaves? If so, it's probably some type of viburnum, possibly viburnum tirlobum.


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## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

Your picture isn't very clear but it looks like it could be in the currant family, either black or red currant or gooseberry. Does it have any prickles, and do the leaves and flowers look anything like this?


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

It looks more like gooseberry than currants, but if that is a current picture I don't know. My gooseberries have long since blossomed, fruited, and are done. So if those are blossoms....I don't think it could be either currants or gooseberries.

Is the picture recent?


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

Fennick said:


> Your picture isn't very clear but it looks like it could be in the currant family, either black or red currant or gooseberry. Does it have any prickles, and do the leaves and flowers look anything like this?


Looks like the red berried picture. Also have some bushes with orange berries. Are the red currants edible, tasty?


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

offthegrid said:


> It looks more like gooseberry than currants, but if that is a current picture I don't know. My gooseberries have long since blossomed, fruited, and are done. So if those are blossoms....I don't think it could be either currants or gooseberries.
> 
> Is the picture recent?


Took the picture a day or two before I posted the question.


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## Fennick (Apr 16, 2013)

HerseyMI said:


> Looks like the red berried picture. Also have some bushes with orange berries. Are the red currants edible, tasty?


Pick some that are very ripe and soft and taste them, keeping in mind that they all are berries that have a distinctive flavour and are usually slightly sour and require some sugar or other sweetener when preparing them for preserves or pies. Once you've tasted them off the bush you can decide for yourself if you want to harvest them.

It's possible you have a late maturing cultivar of currant, red gooseberry or red jostaberry (which is a red hybrid cross between currant and gooseberry). I doubt they are a josta if they're wild but it's still possible I guess. If you are at a fairly high elevation or have had a late spring and cool summer it's not entirely unusual for some cultivars of _ribes_ (currants, gooseberries and jostaberries) to mature in late August into late September but the usual time for harvesting most ribes cultivars is in June and July.

If some of the bushes with orange berries on them are ripe and ready they should be a bit transparent, quite soft and relatively sweet - they might be a hybrid albino form of red currant. If they are firm and sour then they are just not ripe yet. Wait until their color darkens and they are riper before you harvest them.

Red, black and white currants are all edible and tasty, as are white, green and pink gooseberries and red jostaberries. Jostaberries are the sweetest of all the ribes cultivars and are considered a dessert berry suitable for eating fresh on their own without sweetening them or other preparation. 

The longer the berries are left on the bush (without allowing them to rot) the sweeter they will get but you only have a harvest window of about 3 weeks once they're ripe so don't leave them too long. 

If you do harvest them you'll find when they're ripe that they're rather soft and the skins break easily so don't pick the individual berries off the bush because it's too messy. Remove the whole clusters of berries from the bush by snipping the main stem of the berry cluster off with scissors or pruning sheers. Take the clusters home, rinse in cold water and then put on trays and freeze the clusters while they're on the stem. Once they're frozen take them back out of the freezer and pick the berries off the stems and remove the flower ends off the berries too, it's easier and much less messy that way to prep them. Then make jam or jelly or whatever, or put back in the freezer for making something with them later.


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## HerseyMI (Jul 22, 2012)

I will try that Erica, thanks for the replies!


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

It does look like gooseberry, but they are long done flowering and fruiting here in Michigan, as are currents.


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## Osiris (Jun 9, 2010)

I'm with Currants! Gooseberry looks similar but the clusters of berries are a giveaway. Gooseberry (in our area - Illinois) only have about 6 - 10 berries along the stem. About the size of marbles. Look like basketballs - striped. Turn from green to orange/yellow, then to a deep rust red then dark blue/black - THEN you pick 'em!

These are gooseberries:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/images/large/gooseberryf.jpg

These are currants:
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/senior/fruits/images/large/currantfruiton.jpg


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