• Sub-categories:
• Eating plums21
• Dual-purpose plums14
• Plums for cooking9

Plum trees

One of the easiest fruits to grow, we love plum trees and can advise on all aspects of choosing and planting them.

• Plum trees

  Avalon

  

  Avalon is a large mid-season red/purple plum, similar to Victoria, with a very good flavour.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Belle de Louvain

  

  Belle de Louvain is a large purple culinary plum, useful because it can be grown on north-facing walls.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: Belgium
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Blaisdon Red

  A popular red-purple plum, which produces a bright red plum jam.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Cambridge Gage

  

  Cambridge Gage is a reliable green gage, similar to Old Green Gage, with an excellent flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Coe's Golden Drop

  

  Coe's Golden Drop is a large oval gage from the 18th century, noted for its excellent flavour.

  • Picking season: Very late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Czar

  

  Czar is a traditional culinary plum, one of the easiest plums trees, will even fruit on north-facing walls.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Denbigh

  A large red plum with an excellent for eating fresh and also good in the kitchen.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Denniston's Superb

  

  Denniston's Superb is a gage-like green plum, raised in New York in the 19th century.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Early Transparent Gage

  

  One of the easier gages to grow, Early Transparent has attractive semi-translucent fruit.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Edda

  

  A good quality and cold-hardy early-season purple plum from Norway.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Country of origin: Norway
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Excalibur

  

  Excalibur is a red-purple plum, similar to Victoria but with a better flavour for eating fresh.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Gordon Castle

  This late-season green plum originates from Scotland and has an excellent sweet flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4
• Plum trees

  Guinevere

  

  Guinevere is a modern late-season dessert plum, with a good flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Haganta

  

  Haganta is a new large blue plum from Germany, one of the latest-ripening and an excellent flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: Germany
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Hauszwetsche German Prune

  

  Hauszwetsche is a damson-like Quetsche or Zwetsche plum, ideal for German-style cakes and desserts.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: Germany
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4
• Plum trees

  Herman

  

  Herman is one of the best quality early-season plum varieties, blue/purple with yellow flesh.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Country of origin: Sweden
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Jefferson

  

  Jefferson is a a large yellow gage / plum, easy to grow, crops well, very juicy and great flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Jubilee

  

  Jubilee is a new heavy-cropping dessert plum variety, similar to Victoria but larger and more reliable.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: Sweden
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Katinka

  Katinka is an excellent early season eating plum.

  • Picking season: Very early
  • Country of origin: Germany
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Kea

  The Kea plum comes from the area around Kea in Cornwall, in south-west England.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Kirke's Blue

  

  An old-fashioned blue plum with a rich sweet flavour.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Lindsey Gage

  Lindsey Gage is a sweet-flavoured green gage, similar to Cambridge Gage.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Marjorie's Seedling

  

  Marjorie's Seedling is an easy to grow, late-season, heavy cropping purple/black plum.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Meritare

  An attractive new early-season dessert plum from Sweden, with large fruits and good cold-hardiness.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Country of origin: France
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Old Green Gage

  

  The definitive gage - Old Green Gage is arguably the best-flavoured of any plum variety.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: France
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Opal

  

  Opal is an early plum variety with a good flavour, self-fertile and very easy to grow.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Country of origin: Sweden
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Purple Pershore

  

  Very similar to Yellow Pershore and with the same excellent culinary qualities.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4
• Plum trees

  Reeves

  A high-quality English dual-purpose plum, similar to Victoria but with an improved flavour for eating fresh.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: Canada
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Reine Claude de Bavay

  

  The most widely-grown green gage, Reine Claude de Bavay has the distinctive gage-like flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: Belgium
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Reine Claude Doree

  A high-quality yellow-green gage, and usually more productive than other green gages.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: France
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Reine Claude Violette

  A traditional French gage first recorded in the 18th century, noted for its excellent flavour. Also known as Purple Gage.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: France
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Rivers' Early Prolific

  

  Early Prolific is a very heavy-cropping early-season plum, raised by the famous Rivers nursery.

  • Picking season: Early
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Seneca

  

  Seneca is a high-quality late-season large American plum with a notably sweet flavor.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United States
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Stella's Star

  

  A modern green-gage, more productive and easier to grow in the UK than the traditional ones.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Thames Cross

  

  Thames Cross is a versatile dual-purpose plum, related to Coe's Golden Drop.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Victoria

  

  Victoria is the classic English plum - attractive fruit, good for eating, and outstanding flavour for cooking. It's also easy to grow and very productive.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Warwickshire Drooper

  

  Warwickshire Drooper is a good quality dual-purpose yellow plum, with heavy crops.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 2
• Plum trees

  Willingham

  A traditional English green gage, with a reputation for excellent flavour.

  • Picking season: Late
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 3
• Plum trees

  Yellow Pershore

  

  Also known as Yellow Egg, Yellow Pershore is a self-fertile heavy cropping culinary plum.

  • Picking season: Mid
  • Country of origin: United Kingdom
  • Self-fertility: Self-fertile
  • Flowering group: 4

How to choose Plum trees

If you are new to growing fruit trees, plum trees make an excellent choice. Plum trees are easy to grow - usually easier than apples and pears - and require very little training or pruning. The only horticultural challenge is that plums flower quite early in spring, so locations that are prone to frosts are best avoided (or choose a late-flowering or frost-resistant variety). They thrive in most conditions, but they prefer water-retentive soils, and mulching is therefore particularly important for plum trees - farmyard manure is ideal.

Unlike most apples and pears, many plum varieties are self-fertile or partially self-fertile and do not need a pollination partner. For plum varieties that are not self-fertile, another plum tree of a different variety flowering at the same time is usually all that is necessary to ensure good pollination and heavy crops - there are few of the pollination incompatibilities found with apples, pears and cherries.

Plums are also more nutrient-rich than apples or pears, and comparable to some other "superfoods" such as blueberries. Although plum trees do suffer from a range of diseases, they seem to catch them less often than other fruit varieties. Most important of all, the flavour of ripe home-grown plums is vastly superior to shop-bought fruit. Indeed in our opinion freshly-picked dessert plums can offer the most exquisite sweet flavours of any fruit available from the temperate garden.