‘Ben Hope’ Blackcurrant Bush
- ‘Ben Hope’ is the most widely-grown blackberry cultivar in the UK, and was first bred by the Scottish Crops Research Institute (who also bred varieties like ‘Ben Connan’ and ‘Ben Alder’) back in the 1980s, so it’s fair to say this variety has pedigree!
- A heavy cropping variety, ‘Ben Hope’ yields bunches of blackcurrants with exceptional flavour (with each berry typically weighing over 1g) throughout the latter parts of summer
- Like some of the other Ben blackcurrant varieties, ‘Ben Hope’ displays great pest and disease resistance, particularly to gall mites, powdery mildew and leaf spot
- If you’re able to stop yourself from eating all the blackcurrants straight off the bush – and no judgment if you can’t – then make yourself a batch of homemade cordial or rustle up a latticework blackcurrant pie
- The blackcurrant plant, Ribes nigrum, has been certified by the Royal Horticultural Society as one of its Plants for Pollinators, proving beneficial to bees in particular
