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Ask Our Gardening Expert
Choosing Your Plum Tree (continued) TASTE
Plum Tree Varieties
(continued - page 2)
The best way to make a decision on taste, is to understand a little
about the variety of plums available.
Bullace
- strictly a cooking plum. The trees are smaller than
normal and very hardy, they are also ornamental. The fruit has a very
sharp flavour, excellent for jams and preserving.
Damson - another cooking plum, but sweeter than the bullace. The
fruits are have a sharpish taste and are ideal for pies, tarts and jams.
Plum - some are cooking and some are eating. These make up some
of the best plums for the UK climate.
Gage - eating (desert) plums. These are some of the the sweetest
form of plum and they have a distinct 'plum' fragrance.
RECOMMENDED VARIETIES
Taste is a matter of personal preference, GardenAction list below some
popular varieties of plum which you may wish to consider.
Click on the plum variety names below for a picture.
VARIETY POLLINATION COMMENTS
Blue Tit As you will see if click on the
name for the picture this is a real blue plum. The flavour
is good and the shape is regular. This plum variety is
self fertile, crops regularly in large amounts during
August.
(plum)
Self-fertile
Bred in 1995 "Blue Tit" has an award of Garden Merit (
)
from the RHS.
Czar Self-fertile Bred
by Thomas Rivers in 1870. It is a cross between Prince
Englebert x Early Prolific. It was named in honour of the Russian Emperor visiting at the time. A good eating plum that produces medium-sized
round or oval purple plums of good flavour. The flesh is
yellow-green and very juicy. It is a good-cropper and hardier than most varieties
(plum)
Dennistons The pale green skin is tinged with a red flush. It reliably produces a good crop of plums in late summer.
Superb
(gage)
Self-fertile
A great tasting gage, Denniston's Superb is amongst the best as far as eating plums go.
Early Laxton (plum) Part self-fertile Bred by Laxton's of Bedford, it was first appeared in 1916 and was
immediately awarded a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit. Cooker and eater but best for cooking. Medium-sized fruit, tinged with
pink. Sweet and juicy. The earliest of all plums, producing fruit in
early August.
Jefferson
(gage)
Pollinate with
A very reliable cropper producing largish juicy gages in mid
August.
Marjorie's
Seedling (plum) Raised by Burleydam Nurseries of Staffordshire. The plum tree was then
sold to a Mr. C. Sykes of Bricklehampton, Worcestershire.
His marriage was obviously a happy one because he named it after his wife, Marjorie. A great eating plum, it produces fruit from mid September.
Unusually, this plum keeps very well in the fridge, extending the eating period by up to 4 weeks . Large oval blue-black plums. Juicy yellow flesh with a good flavour. A
vigorous tree which produces a large number of plums.
Old
English Greengage Named after Sir William Gage who imported this variety to the UK in 1724. This is the best taste of all varieties. The colourless flesh is full
of flavour and juicy - a real treat. This is not a high yielding variety.
(gage)
Pollinate with
Czar or Victoria
Victoria A chance seedling found in a garden at Alderton Sussex. Introduced
by Denyer of Brixton, London in 1840. A popular variety with large fruits, and an excellent taste. The
flesh is green to yellow and very juicy. A heavy
cropper, producing fruit in
September.
Click here if you want to buy this plum tree online.
(plum)
Self-fertile
POLLINATION
Some plum tress are self-fertile, but many require a compatible plum
tree nearby (plum trees are not so common as apple trees) for
pollination to occur. Plum trees have a short and very distinct
pollination period (almost exactly ten days) so if you choose a tree
which is not self-fertile, be sure to also choose a compatible tree.
This is especially important if you choose a 'gage'.
Click here to see which varieties are self-fertile and those which are not self-fertile (compatible varieties are listed to help you choose a partner for your plum tree if necessary).
Name: Gamal Salib
E-mail: Private
Date posted: September 18, 2011 - 11:05 am
Message: Could you please tell me how and when to prune an apple tree.
Thanks
Name: carol
E-mail: Private
Date posted: August 04, 2011 - 06:50 am
Message: Hi, we are moving into a house that has a large plum tree, greeny coloured skin with a hint of red. We have picked some of them which are very sweet but found small black marks on them and actually found a small maggot in one, what should I do? are they not edible and how can I treat them? I have noticed that there are a lot of rotten fruit on the tree which is in the garden of a house that has been unoccupied for 18 month. Thank you.
Name: joan bowman
E-mail: b.bowman1@sky.com
Date posted: August 01, 2011 - 05:51 am
Message: In a field near us
yellow fruit small size of a damson with stone in middle like a small plum now very ripe, what are they? and can they be eaten {have had a bite and are sweet]
Thank You
Name: neil
E-mail: greenneil@hotmail.co.uk
Date posted: June 24, 2011 - 05:40 am
Message: Hello, I am involved in a new community orchard on our green. The plum trees are standards that are bowing over a good deal and I feel may have snapped off in recent winds. We have removed the fruit to reduce the weight for the first year.Do the trees need to be staked or supported in some way, or perhaps cut back, if so when?
thanks for any advice
Name: mike manley
E-mail: mmanley@carnegienet.net
Date posted: June 08, 2011 - 06:55 pm
Message: Will Chinese Plums grow in Oklahoma?
Name: Malu
E-mail: Private
Date posted: June 05, 2011 - 12:36 am
Message: How far have to plant out from the house the small plum tree?
Name: james
E-mail: Private
Date posted: January 17, 2011 - 02:59 pm
Message: what plum tree has pink blossoms and maroon leaves, and when do you plant them?
Name: Brian Slade
E-mail: Private
Date posted: October 29, 2010 - 01:02 pm
Message: Can someone please tell me where I can buy a Dunster plum tree?
Name: bill may
E-mail: cyrille.may@ntlworld.com
Date posted: August 30, 2010 - 04:43 am
Message: hi i have a plum tree and the fruit have small maggoty inside
Name: G P Singers
E-mail: grajean@clear.net.nz
Date posted: August 30, 2010 - 01:11 am
Message: Hi I have a satsuma plum tree because of the weather condtions can i hand pollinate it regards Graham
Name: Mr D. Heaven
E-mail: dug1@talktalk.net
Date posted: August 28, 2010 - 04:05 pm
Message: Many roadside trees with small yellow and red ( plums ). About 1 & 1/2" seem ripe end August, taste fairly sweet. Are the o k to eat or bottle with gin or vodka ?
Name: David
E-mail: dspand@aol.com
Date posted: August 07, 2010 - 01:43 pm
Message: We moved into our present house 26 years ago. In the back garden were 3 trees an apple tree, cherry tree and another tree, after 26 years the other tree is covered with plums and is about 20 ft high, all the plums are at least above 10 ft up the tree nothing on the lower branches, is this a normal behaviour of the plum tree ????
Name: Jane Lee
E-mail: Private
Date posted: August 03, 2010 - 01:32 am
Message: My friend has a "Spiro Plum" tree which she bought from Dave Wilson Nursery many years ago. I like to buy one also, but where can I find one? I live in the Sacramento, CA area. Thank you.