Dancing Tassels
- Scientific Name: Ribes malvaceum
- Garden: Wildlife Garden
- Plant Type: Shrub
- Evergreen/Deciduous: Deciduous
- Moisture Requirements: Dry
Plant Information
Broadleaf deciduous (usually), multi-stemmed shrub, to about 5 ft (1.5 m) tall and wide, stems lack nodal spines. Leaves simple, alternate, thin, 3 lobed, blade about 20-50 mm, margin double toothed, dull green, densely hairy and glandular, generally found clustered on short, lateral branchlets. Flowers small, pink to purple, 10-25 per pendant cluster. Fruit about 6 mm, red to purple.
Sun, drought resistant, a tough shrub. Hardy to USDA Zone 5 Native to California, the Sierra Nevada foothills and the slopes of the Coast Range, and south into northern Baja, California (Mexico). In mild climates it blooms in winter, with numerous clusters of fragrant pink flowers from late October to March; attracts hummingbirds.