Thriving on poor soil and neglect, often found in suburban death-traps and municipal shrubberies, springtime stalwart Ribes sanguineum is a victim of its own success and deserves immediate rescue by horticultural cognoscenti.

– Forget about those crummy, mass-market seedlings in laundry-accident pink, all you need for spectacular results is a plant with pedigree. Grow R. sangineum ‘Pulborough Scarlet’ and ‘King Edward VII’ for impact, brilliant red-flower salutes in a blue-and-yellow season; to brighten a corner use pure white ‘Ubric’; and for something special, even out of bloom, consider ‘Brocklebankii’ with its chartreuse-yellow leaves.

– Now, those leaves… Learn to love that crisp, musky smell. It’s the quintessence of spring air. Think like a perfumer, regard it as that necessary base note found in high floral scents, as the eucalyptus/chrysanthemum undertone that makes florist shops so sexy. For a profound sense of luxury, slip some foliage sprays into vases of jonquils or lilies indoors.

– Blackcurrants, redcurrants and white currants are well-known in the Ribes genus, but there are different species of flowering currant, too. “Remarkable for the length and crimson splendour of its stamens, a flower not surpassed in beauty by the finest fuchsia” (19th-century botanist David Douglas) – the arching stems of spiny semi-evergreen Ribes speciosum ache under the burden of funky teardrop blooms, like rosehips and fuchsias rolled together.

– Pretty rather than beautiful, R. odoratum has yellow-green flowers with an entirely different appeal: an extraordinarily penetrating perfume that’s clove-like and warmly delicious. You’d be hard pressed to find anything this special even at the height of summer.

PERFECT TIMING

Spring-flowering shrubs are an underused bunch – no one can be fagged with planting at this time, and when gardeners do come out of dormancy on Easter Sunday, their thoughts all fast-forward to summer. Now, in fact, is the optimum slot for getting them into the ground, as roots can concentrate exclusively on finding a foothold in soil that’s guaranteed moist for months, without having to feed stems, leaves or flowers.

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