Currants hate our climate, too hot and humid. They will often drop their leaves early and look pretty ratty by August, but they can come back next Spring. If we have a couple of really hot Summers in a row it can weaken them.There are couple of rust diseases that affect them but none seem to kill them. They can be the alternate host for White Pine Blister Disease (which I believe is also a type of rust) which is why they are banned in NC. You can't legally grow them, own them, sell them, pick them, or have them for any reason.

Thanks for the info, trianglejohn. I'm aware that there is a ban on currants, so I took a measured risk when planting them. Since white pines are so few in my area, and I drove around actually looking for some before I planted the currants (didn't find any), I decided trying to grow them was worth the risk.

After this summer, however, they don't seem to be worth the coddling the may require.

White Pine is usually grown in the mountains of NC so I doubt you'll find many in the Piedmont. The plants have to be within 1000 feet of each other which is why most northern state ban currants and gooseberries in certain counties rather than a state wide ban. Most states have lifted the ban because it never did any good (besides the fact that the pines and the currants are starting to develop resistance to it).

Currants can be grown in the shade in our area but expect little production out of them. all the whites have failed at my house, although they are the most unique currants they fail in the carolinas. When retailers say to zone 8 they are talking about the pacific Northwest and they can grow in full sun there up to a solid zone 8 there. The blacks have produced in full sun in my yard but like the shade more the reds have never produced but are alive. The whites have all crooked, I've tried about 30 different varieties over the past 3 years and only about 8 varieties are left. I've found morning sun is key with protection from the sun during the hottest part of the day. They make great understory plants but benefit from a raised bed with a cardboard layer at the bottom to give the currants a chance to establish before feeder roots from the canopy tree invade the soil space. This also stops suckers from popping up beside your currants because you won't damage the canopy trees roots from digging in the soil. Many trees including pears, nut's, persimmons, etc will send up suckers anywhere the roots have been disturbed or exposed. Currants are also far from drought tolerant so be sure to water when the soil gets dry but avoid wetting the leaves when you do water. Ahhh the things we do to grow things out of the norm..... Good luck