The venerable and versatile plum tree is both beautiful and productive!! With the right choice and placement, you can happily grow plums in the Pacific Northwest. We have a number of wonderful varieties to pique your interest. There is nothing so satisfying as biting into a sun warmed plum right off the tree!!
History
Plums along with Olives, Grapes and Figs were the first fruits cultivated by humans during the Neolithic age. They are believed to have originated in China. There are about 40 different species of plums and thousands of different varieties. They feature in many different dishes from savoury to sweet and are even sought after for pickles and alcohol flavourings.
Planting
Plum trees will appreciate a full sun position with plenty of air circulation. They will need a good deep, well draining soil with a slightly alkaline PH between 6.0 and 8.8., for this reason it is a good idea to sprinkle a cup or two of Dolopril around the dripline in early spring. The are fairly heavy drinkers when in fruit, think about how juicy plums are and how many are on the tree and you can get the idea. A good all purpose fruit tree fertilizer (Garden Pro or Gaia Green) , can be applied before bloom time and a dressing of compost or mulch around but not touching the base of the tree is a good idea.
Plum trees are delicious, summer fruiting plants that are delightful for fresh eating and with some varieties, drying as Prunes. Many varieties exist including Green Gages, Damsons, Plums and Italian Prunes.
Pruning
Plum trees are vigorous growers so it is a good idea to summer prune your plum trees the end of July, beginning of August. Pruning to control size, increase air circulation and the shorten branches will help to reduce breakage and disease and will help to extend the life of your tree.
Plum Types
The types of plums we carry for sale are:
Japanese Plums,
are the round juicy plums you will often find at the grocery store. They include varieties such as Beauty, Santa Rosa and Shiro.
European Plums,
are the prune plum variety that tend to be oval in shape, sweet and slightly less juicy than Japanese plums. They include varieties such as Italian, Victoria, Greengage, Damson and Yellow Egg.
Mume Plum,
are grown for their beautiful late winter/early spring blooms and for their small plums often used in pickles.
Pollination
The early blossoms of plum trees are a favourite of many different species of native bees. Standing under a plum tree on a still day you can hear the hum as the bees go about their work.
It is helpful to know the variety of plum you have as some are self-fruitful and others require pollinators. With Japanese plums you will generally require a second different type of Japanese plum as a pollinator as they are very early blooming. European plums tend to be self fruitful but will set even more fruit if a different type of European Plum is planted nearby because of their later bloom times.
Container Planting
Container planting is not recommended for longer than 2 years due to their growth. With careful root pruning every year or two and summer pruning you could extend their container life for a couple of years, though I would recommend at some point to set them free in the ground so they can spread out. Mature plums are often wider than they are tall!