Versatile fruit
Large black berries provide ample juice and stable colour for drinks, sauces, jellies and freezing.
Ribes nigrum ‘Titania’ 13cm — Care & Tips
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A generous blackcurrant with gleaming fruit and impressive blossom 🍒
Family: Grossulariaceae · Pot diameter: 13cm · Height: approximately 45cm
Ribes nigrum ‘Titania’ is a classic blackcurrant that fills the garden with vigorous growth and striking glossy berries. Its fruit hangs in neat strings, ripens comparatively evenly and delivers rich blackcurrant character that transforms juices, desserts and homemade preserves. The strong upright bush remains orderly, renews readily from the base and makes an excellent choice for anyone wanting a dependable fruiting shrub with genuine presence.
Plant it in cool fertile soil and leave room around the crown for strong new basal shoots to develop each year.
‘Titania’ combines a strong framework, practical picking and fruit with deep colour and aroma.
Large black berries provide ample juice and stable colour for drinks, sauces, jellies and freezing.
Strong basal shoots rise without sprawling untidily, leaving the strings easy to reach.
Good performance against mildew and rust reduces familiar blackcurrant problems.
Why you will love it: Choose it once and gain a long-lived shrub that renews easily and gives every summer harvest real character.
Give it morning sun, or full sun in a cool region, with light afternoon shade in a hot climate. Allow approximately 1.1–1.5m in height and 1–1.3m in spread, with open ground around the crown.
Combine it with low plants that attract pollinators without obstructing new basal shoots.
Sun to partial shade; avoid fierce reflected heat.
Deep watering when the surface dries, especially while berries fill.
Very hardy in winter cold, but it needs a cool root zone in summer.
Wash fully ripe fruit before eating.
Plant in fertile, humus-rich soil that holds even moisture without waterlogging. An organic mulch over the outer root zone keeps the soil cool.
Water deeply when the surface dries, with particular consistency from flowering until the berries fill. Avoid both prolonged drought and permanently saturated soil.
Maintain 8–10 well-spaced stems and an open centre. Support is needed only if a branch bows under its load.
In early spring add mature compost and a balanced fruit-shrub feed according to its label. Stop nitrogen-rich applications early in summer.
In regions with very hot summers choose morning sun and afternoon shade. A lasting mulch and deep watering protect the shallow roots.
Thin old wood at the base, remove fallen leaves and water at soil level so foliage dries quickly.
‘Titania’ is self-fertile and crops without a second plant. A different blackcurrant flowering at the same time can enhance fruit set.
The berries ripen in mid-season, usually during July, with much of each string reaching its final black colour together.
Wait until the berries are fully black, glossy and juicy. Hold the string by its stalk and cut or pull it gently.
Place taut netting over a frame as colouring begins, ensuring birds cannot become trapped in the foliage.
After planting: keep the soil evenly moist and let strong new shoots build an open, balanced bush.
Late winter, before the buds begin to open
‘Titania’ carries its best fruit on younger wood and renews strongly from the crown. Pruning maintains stems of different ages, light in the centre and steady replacement of very dark old branches.
Action: Remove only broken, very thin or ground-hugging shoots. Open the centre slightly if two branches rub.
Retain: Keep every strong upright stem rising from a different point of the crown.
Action: Thin one weak inward stem and remove low laterals touching the soil. Do not shorten every tip.
Retain: Retain well-lit younger wood and 8–10 well-spaced main stems.
Action: Cut about one third of the darkest, thickest and least productive stems at ground level. Select the same number of strong new replacements.
Retain: Keep a mixture of young and middle-aged stems around a clear, bright centre.
Use sharp, clean tools suited to the diameter of the wood.
If needed, remove one exhausted stem immediately to light the new growth, without giving the whole bush a summer clip.
Do not do this: Do not cut every stem to the same height; this creates crowded tops and loses the natural renewal system from the crown.
The crown establishes and produces strong upright shoots that form the future framework.
Younger stems branch and fill with fruit strings while retaining the upright habit.
Each winter a few old branches give way to new basal stems, keeping the bush vigorous.
Numerous upright stems rise from the base and branch to the sides. Younger canes renew the deciduous crown, while short fruit strings hang beneath the lobed leaves.
After leaf fall, dark old wood is easily distinguished from smooth younger stems.
What to expect after planting: The crown establishes and produces strong upright shoots that form the future framework.
The story of ‘Titania’ began in 1969 at Tollarp in Sweden. Breeder Pál Tamás crossed ‘Altaskaya Dessertnaya’ with a hybrid of ‘Consort’ and ‘Kajaanin Musta’, seeking a vigorous upright bush, large berries and strong resistance to the principal diseases.
One seedling stood out and was selected in 1974 for multi-year trials. It was observed in Sweden and later in Germany, Finland and Hungary, confirming even ripening, stable juice colour and good performance against mildew and rust.
The cultivar entered wider cultivation during the 1980s and received European protection in 1985. Its strong growth and practical harvest made it one of the best-known Swedish blackcurrants in gardens and commercial plantings across many countries.
Anthocyanins in ‘Titania’ juice show unusually good resistance to browning, a trait that contributed to its selection for processing.
Tiny glands on leaves and young tissues of Ribes nigrum release volatile terpenes and sulphur compounds, creating the characteristic cassis scent before the berries ripen.
Six practical answers for choosing, growing, harvesting and pruning this exact cultivar.
It is self-fertile. A second blackcurrant flowering at the same time can increase fruit set.
Approximately 1.1–1.5m high and 1–1.3m wide, with vigorous upright stems.
Yes, in a large deep container with even moisture and room for new basal shoots.
Usually during July, when almost the whole string is black and glossy.
Because it combines a strong upright bush, large berries, even ripening and strong resistance to common diseases.
In late winter, removing some of the darkest old wood at ground level and retaining strong new stems.