Plum Identification Please??!!

[Farmer_Gyles]

I planted a plum tree in my garden a few years ago - can't remember what variety it is tho - it's grown quite big and has quite a lot of large plums - they look blue on the tree, seems to be a blue powdery coating which rubs off when handled leaving a purple/maroon colour skin - other photos i've seen on the next suggest they might be victoria plums - tree leaves are green

also found what looks like a plum tree in the grass verge in our street - it's been planted by the council - the leaves and plums are dark red - the plums are a lot smaller than the ones at home

the first pic below shows plums on my tree at home
second pic shows my home plums on the left and the "street" plums on the right with a leaf - colour isn't good but it's the best i can do with my phone camera

[rustylady]

The council ones look more like cherries to me - and with the red leaf colour possibly an ornamental cherry (not sure if edible). Can you remember what the blossom looked like?

[SMS6]

I thought Victoria was a reddish plum

[sarraceniac]

It looks like 'Czar' to me. There are over 2000 varieties of plum but only a couple of dozen are usually available. Czar is the most popular. (It was bred in 1871 and named in honour of the visiting Czar of Russia - more useless info. ) We can discount all the gages which are green or golden and it is more purple than Victorias but not a damson definitely. SMS6 is I think right. My only 'worry' is why they are ripe already. Usually the end of August, 4 or 5 weeks. So if anybody has a better idea ????

[Farmer_Gyles]

the council planted ones are a cherry colour, but they're much bigger than cherries and grow individually like plums, not in pairs like cherries, and they look like plums, not cherries

no idea what the blossom looked like

and no idea what colours each plum variety are - like i said, the powdery blue coating on mine rubs off .....

[Farmer_Gyles]

just looked up czar pics on the net, and mine look like the ones at Czar - Plum - Fruit Trees - Keepers Nursery - possibly the largest range of fruit trees and soft fruit plants in the world except the blue rubs off when handled - there are other varieties of blue plum listed on that site, will need to check through in more detail

the same website shows cherry plum at Cherry Plum - Cherry Plum - Fruit Trees - Keepers Nursery - possibly the largest range of fruit trees and soft fruit plants in the world - the ones in the street are a much darker red
victoria plum seems to be a lighter red

i used to have a damson tree with blue damsons similar to the czar plums - the street plums are bigger than the damsons i used to get

i'll take more pics including the street tree

[FB.]

I thought Victoria was a reddish plum

Agreed.
Victoria is a yellow-red coloured plum, depending on it's ripeness and sun aspect. My Vic has never produced such dark coloured plums as shown in the picture.
There are many purple plums, but the very early ripening could pinpoint the variety.
It's also possible that your tree grew from a pip. There's a Victoria plum about half a mile from me and beside it is a huge plum tree (biggest fruit tree I've ever seen) that appears to have grown a pip that fell over the fence and onto council-owned land.

[Farmer_Gyles]

3 more pics of the plums and trees
the small red ones have normal plum shaped stone
the red plum tree is chocca with fruit - it's been deliberately planted - i looked closer and the leaves start green and turn red
early ripening could be to do with the weather this year? we had a bit of a heatwave and a very long very dry spell, i've had loads of veggies run to seed, especially sweetcorn

[HayleyB]

I always thought ours were Victorias, they have a blue coat and purple on rubbing. we don't normally get fruit until August but the two trees are so heavy with fruit one branch broke and got put in with the chooks to play with. I've harvest about 10lb already with hundreds more ripening.

Our golden plum tree is advanced as well but the fruit doesn't look like it will be ripe for another week or so.

Your little red plums you found look like the wild red cherry plums I used to pick out riding when I was a kid. The horse gave us the elevation to eat our fill

[Farmer_Gyles]

do you think those red plums are ok for jam??

[WrexTheDragon]

I make jam and stewed fruit out of the bottom plums in the photo. Not sure about the top ones, as I don't have any of them.

[kentvegplot]

We've got Czars for sale around us already - fairly big, deep purple. The 'street' ones might be Prunus cerasifera - often planted because of its wonderful blossom, but also has big cherry fruit that look much more like plums. I think they're edible, but don't quote me...

[sarraceniac]

We've got Czars for sale around us already - fairly big, deep purple. The 'street' ones might be Prunus cerasifera - often planted because of its wonderful blossom, but also has big cherry fruit that look much more like plums. I think they're edible, but don't quote me...

All right. So you're in the Garden of England and I'm in Siberia. Just getting my own back on you south people who grow oranges at Christmas. We have difficulty with rhubarb in June here.

[sarraceniac]

Whoops, FG. Just looked at your tree pics. I reckon that your small red one is an ornamental cherry, especially if your council planted it. Don't hold me to it please but both plums and cherries are Prunus so I suspect that they wouldn't kill you but wouldn't taste very good.

[Farmer_Gyles]

wikipedia says cherry plum (prunus wotsit) is edible
Cherry plum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
but i'm still a bit wary that it might just be ornamental and not good for my belly!
i'll contact the council and see if they know what they planted and where ...... and if all else fails, i'll pick the fruit, make some jam, give it to someone i don't like, and if they survive i'll pick loads more next year ........