Description
A beautiful member of the cherry group, American plum is a wild version of the domesticated plum. Like other members of the cherry group, spring flowers are quite beautiful and fragrant in spring. A pollinator mad house!
American plums are more resistant to common plum diseases, a pattern seen commonly in the wild forms of domesticated plants. With that increased resistance comes a trade off, these are not the fresh eating plums we know and love. They are more commonly processed, for example in preserves.
If the absolute best fresh eating plums are what you’re after, you can graft domestic plum varieties onto American plum after a few years using the very approachable bark grafting technique.
The American plum can also serve as a pollinating partner for domestic plum trees, either as a separate tree or as a multi grafted tree!
Growth Parameters:
Plant at least two to ensure cross-pollination and fruiting.
Great cold hardiness down to zone 3! Expect an orchard size tree, up to about 15 feet tall. Give as much light as possible, fruit trees generally like as much light as possible. They naturally exist on the edges of hedgerows.
