Think of Ribes aureum var. aureum as the non-fragrant western form and R. aureum var. villosum as the fragrant form found more or less east of the Rocky Mountain front to Nebraska and somewhat beyond. California has, in addition to var. aureum, its own Coast Range subspecies, var. gracillimum which sounds less hardy but delicious. The western form var. aureum is adapted more to the semi-arid steppe and intermountain country of the American west, while var. villosum is adapted to the great plains. The only available nursery cultivars that I know of in America are Crandall from 1888 and Gwen's Buffalo Currant, which is a selection from Wyoming. Both of these are selections of R. aureum var. villosum. Crandall is a particularly large fruited form which is reported to be disease resistant and hardy. Variety aureum might not thrive so well in more humid climates but it is well adapted to cold, heat, and drought. The plant is reported to have a long deep taproot. Check out the nafex discussions on Crandall Currant, Golden Currant, Buffalo Currant, Clove Currant, Ribes odoratum, villosum, and aureum. There is a lot of good information there mainly from around ten years ago. You may actually have better luck finding cultivars in Europe. There is a Swiss guy and firm just recently marketing R. aureum as what he calls "Fourberry". You can find him on Youtube. This is probably derived from var. villosum. I would guess it is patented. If you find it available in UK I would be interested in your report. The berries look very large and black but he says an orange form will come out soon. Ribes aureum var. aureum in the western USA must have a tremendous level of variety in flavors, colors, and local adaptations but it seems to have been totally neglected by plant breeders in spite of its very good flavors. Even var. villosum has little to show but those two cultivars, which are simply selections and not really improved since. Crandall is often marketed as an ornamental currant (Clove Currant) on account of those showy flowers with their spicy clove-like fragrance. Reports on the flavor or Crandall are generally pretty good, with most people finding the fruit quite good and the yield high. Europeans seem to prefer the stronger flavors of the European black currant however. Those European black currants are certainly the best for cooking with. This is mostly just information that I have found online, but I do have my own local form of Ribes aureum var. aureum here with orange berries which actually seem to taste like oranges to me. The berries are only about 1 cm large but pretty good eating and quite unlike any other currant that I have ever eaten. Having found no record of anyone ever even attempting a cross between var. villosum and var. aureum, several years ago I crossed Crandall with my orange fruited native variety. The resulting plant bloomed heavily this season with a very good fragrance. It does show intermediate features, seems vigorous, and set a good crop of berries. I am quite curious just how these berries will turn out later in the summer. Further amateur breeding is in the works, which is why I am so interested in Fabaceae_native's report on his NM forms of Ribes aureum. Those diverse colors, large fruit, good flavors, and particularly that trait of the withered flowers falling free are very interesting and attractive.

Thanks everyone for all the great ideas. Floral_uk, I would be happy to hear any suggestions you have, fruit bearing or not. And especially for something large sized that won't overhang my neighbor's property and be sheared off by his lawn service. MrsG47 and Steve333, I think I will try to plant some kind of blackcurrant or red currant in the empty spaces and see how that goes. I don't mind feeding the birds. I have thought about elderberries but maybe for my back yard which gets lots of water from the lawn irrigation system. That's also where I thought about planting the serviceberries eventually, I will look up the varieties you have named, milehighgirl and Drew51. And the peach is a good idea, I have also read that apricot has very attractive foliage. I realize that many years there won't be a fruit crop because of frosts during spring (like this year for example). Rhubarb is a good idea too but making pie and jam is bad for my diet :). But to get back to what Floral_uk said--in this spot next to the garage with southern exposure, I think I should plant something that will really take advantage of the sun.

Golden, There are two SACs along this fence. They are planted in the ground in heavy clay soil. The mound in the last picture is created by two hanging baskets on a pole (that have annuals like Portulaca or something like that in them) which gets covered up by the SAC late in the season. I could stop this cover-up, but choose not to. As for SACs living with other plants, the entire fenceline has planting gardens all along them. There is a shade bed under the tree with hostas, heucheras and the like, a large daylily bed with yarrows, catmints, salvias, knautia, and a small annuals bed with Iris being the only long-termer. There are a total of 6 other clematis on this side fence (plus the two inside the arbor that I mentioned before) in addition to the various annual vines. The only work involved in these two SACs is cutting them down in the spring (they make a nice winter block of my neighbors yard all winter) and weaving the very pliant stems (not as brittle as most of my clematis) in and out of the fence. I don't tie it in or do anything at all to make it stay in place. If an occasional stem won't weave, I chop it off. I have never fertilized them at all. Marilou, Yes my SACs are in full sun. They run north to south on the east side fence line, but other than the one tree between them there are no buildings, trees or shrubs to block the sun. My neighbor on this side waited 5 years to plant a couple of small shrubs around his deck and has nothing but grass everywhere else. That's part of the reason that I planted the SACs there on the fence. By the end of May (after cutting back in early April) I have 5-8 foot long length of living green fence right where his patio is, by August I have two 20 ft plus stretches of green, soon to be topped with flowers.

Honestly, a Cornelian cherry pie is the best cherry pie in the world. With vanilla ice cream, it's out of this world. I think of this fruit as the rhubarb of the "cherry" world. The taste is quite distinct and definitely not cranberry. Once you add sugar, the fruit is transformed. To make pie filling, I add sugar, red wine, a bit of lemon juice, touch of salt, ground black pepper, and some ground cloves. I use a bit of flour for thickener. People are skeptical when I extol the virtues of this pie, but once they've tried it, they're believers. Cornus mas is a huge seller in the Caucasus and Turkey, where it's routinely turned into jam (pits left in the fruit) and used to sweeten tea, especially when you have a cold or flu. It's a pain to pit it; a cherry pitter really doesn't do the job. I was in Tbilisi when I discovered the cherries years ago and pitted them while I watched the Clinton impeachment proceedings on television. I used a paperclip (and still do) to preserve as much of the whole, soft, very ripe fruit as I could. A friend in the Caucasus gently rolls the cherries over a grater to get the fruit off (she don't make pies with it; mine was the first she tried). Occasionally, for pie, I have a "pitting party": invite seven friends over, and in one hour, you will have the amount of pitted cherries it would have taken you eight hours to pit by yourself. As a reward, all pitters get a piece of pie. I boil the leftover pits to remove the clinging bits of fruit, which results in a strong Cornelian cherry juice that I turn into sorbet, using the same ingredients (sans flour) I use for the pie filling. A friend from New York told me I could make a fortune selling the sorbet there. (Sure, if someone invents a pitter.) The fruit also makes a wonderful sauce--delicious on chicken or ice cream or on anything else you would flavor with cherry. This cherry would make an excellent liqueur, I think.