Red flowers of Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry

Scientific Name

Ribes speciosum

Part Sun

Part Shade

Low

Moderate

Max. Height × Width

6–10 feet × 3–8 feet

Price & Availability


Currently not available.

Like our other local gooseberries, the limbs of Ribes speciosum bristle with thousands of wickedly sharp thorns. As the popular name implies, however, in the case of Fuchsiaflower Gooseberry, the forbidding quality of its spiny branches is offset by an abundance of jewel-like clusters of magenta flowers in spring.

In most of Los Angeles, this plant appreciates a little extra water and dappled morning sun followed by afternoon shade, so placement is key. It will usually thrive within the broad canopy of a mature chaparral shrub like Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon) or Rhus integrifolia (Lemonadeberry), or even in an oak understory.

Once established, it will go almost completely dormant without supplemental summer watering, so if you don’t want plants in your garden that look dead in the summer, either apply a little moisture in the hotter months or plant something else. One or two well-sited plants will quickly form an impenetrable thicket, a convenient refuge for birds fleeing wicked pussycats and other predators.

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Bitter Gooseberry

Ribes amarum

flowers

Blue Dicks

Dipterostemon (Dichelostemma) capitatus

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Blue Elderberry

Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea

Blue Wildrye

Elymus glaucus

Branching Phacelia

Phacelia ramosissima

Brickell Bush

Brickellia californica

California Aster

Corethrogyne filaginifolia

California Aster

Corethrogyne filaginifolia

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California Four O’Clock

Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia

California Fuchsia

Epilobium canum ssp. canum

California Prickly Phlox

Linanthus californicus

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Canyon Dudleya

Dudleya cymosa

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Cardinal Catchfly

Silene laciniata

Caterpillar Phacelia

Phacelia cicutaria

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Coast Live Oak

Quercus agrifolia

Coast Prickly Pear

Opuntia littoralis

Illustration of plant in planter

Coffeeberry

Frangula californica

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Fiesta Flower

Pholistoma auritum

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Hollyleaf Redberry

Rhamnus ilicifolia

Longstem Buckwheat

Eriogonum elongatum

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Mountain Mahogany

Cercocarpus betuloides

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Poison Oak

Toxicodendron diversilobum

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Punch Bowl Godetia

Clarkia bottae

Rooreh

Claytonia perfoliata

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Round Leafed Boykinia

Boykinia rotundifolia

Sacred Datura

Datura wrightii

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Santa Barbara Honeysuckle

Lonicera subspicata var. denudata

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Saw-Toothed Goldenbush

Hazardia squarrosa var. grindelioides

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Scarlet Larkspur

Delphinium cardinale

Silver Puffs

Uropappus lindleyi

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Soap Plant

Chloroglaum pomeridianum

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Southern Bush Monkeyflower

Diplacus longiflorus

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Southern California Black Walnut

Juglans californica

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Spotted Humboldt’s Lily

Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatum

Sunflower

Helianthus annuus

Threadleaf Ragwort

Senecio flaccidus

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Toyon

Heteromeles arbutifolia

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Western Columbine

Aquilegia formosa

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Western Wallflower

Erysimum capitatum

Wild Heliotrope