Members of the genus Ribes, true currants and gooseberries are unrelated to the raisin-like currants sold in the grocery store, which are dried grapes. Native to North America, currants and gooseberries were more commonly grown at the turn of the century. Then after outbreaks of white pine blister rust, currants were found to carry the disease. To protect pine trees, federal law mandated that all currants and gooseberries, members of the genus Ribes, be eradicated. This rust, a fungal disease, requires both pines and plants in the genus Ribes to complete its life cycle.
Wind carries rust spores between plants.
Since then, plant breeders have developed some disease-resistant varieties of currants and gooseberries and have tested them here in Oregon at U.S. Department of Agriculture facilities in Corvallis and at the Oregon State University's North Willamette Extension and Research Center in Aurora, just south of Portland. The federal law prohibiting the cultivation of Ribes was repealed in 1966 in most states, although about 17 still have some restrictions. The ban was lifted in Oregon because we have so many native species of Ribes, including red flowering currant and stinking currant. Gooseberries and currants are very cold tolerant and can be grown in any region of the state, according to Bernadine Strik, berry specialist with the OSU Extension Service. On the east side of the Cascades, when choosing a site to plant gooseberries or currants, avoid planting these fruiting shrubs in frost pockets.