Plums come in varied sizes, colours and flavours, with various varieties being good for eating,drying or canning and should definitely be considered if you plan to have one or two fruit trees in your garden, as they are very hardy. All plums need cross-pollination so consider a multi-grafted tree or two compatible pollinating varieties for planting.
EUROPEAN BLUE PLUMS
Angelina Fruits Early to mid season
Small to medium sized plum. Dark purple skin, yellow flesh which is very firm, juicy and very sweet. Very good quality, good for drying, cooking or jam. Freestone. Needs more thinning than most.
Damson Fruits mid to late season
A very sweet European plum with a slight tartness in the flavour. The skin is dark reddish-purple with a blue bloom. Used for cooking and drying and is excellent for jam. A good bearing plum.
King Billy Fruits early to mid season
Heavy bearer, flavour good.
President Fruits mid to late season
Medium to large oblong purple fruit with heavy bloom. Yellow, sweet, rich juicy flesh. Can be cool stored for up to 3 weeks and handles well. A medium cropper.
GAGE PLUMS
Coe’s Golden Drop Fruits late season
18th Century from Green Gage and White Magnum Bonum, and old French cooking plum. Large oval yellow plum with a few red spots on sun exposed side. Firm, juicy sweet flesh like apricot in flavour. Best left on tree to develop good flavour. Good for drying.
Green Gage Fruits mid season
European plum with small-medium sized, roundish fruit with greenish-yellow skin. Flesh is amber-yellow coloured, firm, freestone. Good, sweet flavour. Tends to bear biennually. A favourite for cooking, canning and desserts. Ripens in late summer. Forms relatively small tree. Pollinate with Prune d’Agen, Robe de Sergeant, other Gage plums.
PRUNES OR DRYING PLUMS
D’Agen Fruits very late season
Purple coloured oval-shaped fruit. Very sweet yellow flesh with a freestone. A prolific bearer, ‘d’Agen’ is excellent for fresh fruit and drying. Fruit should be fully mature to ensure maximum sugar content. Pollination , other prune cultivars or ‘Coe’s Golden Drop’, ‘Green Gage’ plums.
Splendour
Prune variety,which is the result of breeding the D’Agen and the Hungarian prune, has very high sugar content at 11%, (compared to 8% for the French Prune), long oval shape, sweet yellow flesh
Robe de Sergeant
Prune variety, good pollinator for Coe’s and Green Gage.