- Sub-categories:
- Dessert plums11
- Dual-purpose plums3
- Plums for cooking3
Plum trees
One of the easiest fruits to grow, we love plum trees and can advise on all aspects of choosing and planting them.
- In stock
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
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: Belgium
- In stock
Cambridge Gage
Cambridge Gage is a reliable green gage, similar to Old Green Gage, with an excellent flavour.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
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
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Denniston's Superb
Denniston's Superb is a gage-like green plum, raised in New York in the 19th century.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Country of origin: United States
- In stock
Early Transparent Gage
One of the easier gages to grow, Early Transparent has attractive semi-translucent fruit.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Hauszwetsche German Prune
Hauszwetsche is a damson-like Quetsche or Zwetsche plum, ideal for German-style cakes and desserts.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Country of origin: Germany
- In stock
Kirke's Blue
An old-fashioned blue plum with a rich sweet flavour.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Lindsey Gage
Lindsey Gage is a sweet-flavoured green gage, similar to Cambridge Gage.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Marjorie's Seedling
Marjorie's Seedling is an easy to grow, late-season, heavy cropping purple/black plum.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Old Green Gage
The definitive gage - Old Green Gage is arguably the best-flavoured of any plum variety.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: France
- In stock
Purple Pershore
Very similar to Yellow Pershore and with the same excellent culinary qualities.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Reine Claude de Bavay
The most widely-grown green gage, Reine Claude de Bavay has the distinctive gage-like flavour.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: Belgium
- In stock
Reine Claude Doree
A high-quality yellow-green gage, and usually more productive than other green gages.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: France
- In stock
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
- Self-fertility: Not self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: France
- In stock
Rivers' Early Prolific
Early Prolific is a very heavy-cropping early-season plum, raised by the famous Rivers nursery.- Picking season: Early
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
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
- In stock
Thames Cross
An attractive yellow mid-season plum with a good flavour.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Warwickshire Drooper
Warwickshire Drooper is a good quality dual-purpose yellow plum, with heavy crops.- Picking season: Late
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
- In stock
Yellow Pershore
Also known as Yellow Egg, Yellow Pershore is a self-fertile heavy cropping culinary plum.- Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 4
- Country of origin: United Kingdom
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.