How can I tell which is which

By the flowers. Or the cultivar, which may be female only.

Dan

Apparently, most selections - especially named forms - are male. "It is usually propagated from nonfruiting plants that are resistant to white pine blister rust."

Exactly GG. Supposedly females are more likely to be alternate hosts, and presumably the OP purchased these products somewhere for fruit, and they had females available for fruit production. The plants with female fls or female cultivar (or straight spp) are female.

Since we brought it up, if there are pines nearby the females may be hosts to the rust and thus a risk to the trees.

Dan

To clarify, since well over half the folks I know call any conifer a "pine", what Dan is referring to as hosts to the rust are 5 needled pines like Pinus strobus (eastern white pine), P. flexilis (limber pine), P. monticola (western white pine), P. lambertiana (sugar pine), P. albicaulis (whitebark pine), and P. strobiformis (southwestern white pine) to name a few.

tj

Good point tj.

Dan

It's June, Have I missed the flowering? None of them have flowers now...

Blooms earlier in the spring and while noticeable with close examination, the flowers are not showy. From the OSU extension publication: Ribes alpinum is known as a common formal or informal hedge, with bright green spring foliage and stout, stiff stems, usually pruned to about 3' tall as a linear hedge. Alpine Currant is also found in low maintenance group plantings where coverage without
ornamental appeal, basically no flowers, fruits, autumn color, or winter interest, is desired or accepted.

I'd venture yours will be male plants, as virtually all alpine currants sold are male, nonfruiting cultivars -- female plants are not propagated or sold to reduce the disease impact on agricultural crops.

This shrub's big appeal is its extreme hardiness and low maintenance presence as hedging material. If you are looking for something with attractive flowers and wildlife-attracting or ornamental/edible berries, I'd look elsewhere.

I just bought 3 and noticed yesterday they will be blooming soon. They're still in their pots. I had them in my last garden and enjoyed them. I didn't buy the 'Green Mound'. The ones I bought will grow up to 5' and I don't trim them. I will plant them together and it will make a very nice dense green wall. Their flowers attract butterflies. They're extremely hardy and can be planted in any soil.

Anicee