Ribes vilmorinii planted on the Chinese hillside has the remains of startlingly bright leaf colour. This is a deciduous species native to NW Yunnan into Sichuan and Hubei Provinces of China. Found at 1600 – 4000m through forests on mountain slopes.

By retaining leaves late into the season it is possibly compensating for leafing out late in spring. The plant matures into a small growing shrub of slender stemmed habit covered in deeply indented, irregular shaped foliage adding hues of red, orange and yellow colour to the garden at this time of year.

Ribes vilmorinii. Photo by Tony Garn

Ribes vilmorinii

Ribes vilmorinii. Photo by Tony Garn

Ribes vilmorinii