Description

Missouri Gooseberry (Ribes missouriense) is a spreading shrub native to the north central United States including Kansas. It features green leaves that remain attractive all summer. Light yellow to whitish-green flowers are noticeable and attractive upon close inspection. Green semi-translucent berries develop in summer and ripen to a purplish-black color by late summer and early fall. Tart berries are attractive and highly edible when eaten fresh or baked into pies. Any fruits not eaten by humans are harvested by wildlife. Fall color is reddish-orange and will occur in sun or shade. This shrub eventually grows into a dense thicket 3-5' tall with small thorns or prickles. It will grow in part sun or full shade in medium to dry soils including dry-shade. In the landscape, it is commonly used as background planting on a hill or along a fence. It also makes a great barrier shrub naturally discouraging trespassers. Because of its tolerance for adverse conditions including poor soil and rock, it is often one of the last resort plants that will survive in certain areas especially in the worst of all dry-shade areas. It competes well under large shade trees and helps absorb leaf litter allowing it to break down and add nutrients back to the soil. Plants can also be planted on the Northside of a house, being extremely cold hardy with no winterkill. We do not recommend planting in small areas or in spaces that will overrun neighboring plants. It can spread by shallow horizontally growing roots but not very far. It will grow in moist rich soils but will spread quite a bit faster and grow taller. (and produce more fruit) You'll have to decide if that's desirable or not for your planting location. I have seen this plant growing exclusively in heavily shaded rocky outcroppings around Clinton lake near Lawrence Kansas with almost no other plants growing there except Coralberry(Symphoricarpos orbiculatus). Considered one of the best plants for solving your most difficult dry-shade landscape challenges.