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["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I experimented with many gooseberries for a time but was inadequately impressed with any of the fruit to devote space to them.  Poorman and Invicta grow well in my climate and are pretty good to eat off the plant but I'd rather be eating sweet-cherries which are ripening in their season.  Hinomaki Yellow and Black Velvet did not grow with adequate vigor for me, but by the time I planted them I was already loosing interest.  At least they did not suffer excessively from mildew which doomed many of the prized European varieties I tried.  Invicta is virtually immune to mildew and has very attractive fruit.

 

The only ribes I take the time and space to manage anymore are black currants which are the healthiest fruit grown in the temperate world I think.  Most people don't like them that much off the plant but I love them as barely cooked preserves or run through a blender raw with fresh apple cider and strained- pure ambrosia! 

 

The Cascade black currant I grow is delicious off the plant but is supposedly not pine-blister-rust resistant.  They have not infected my white pines after 15 years, however.