I say “Colorado’s,” but this wild plum, Prunus americana, is native to most of the U.S. It has the sweetest perfume on the planet! The blooms say SPRING like almost nothing else. In Rye, it often blooms the first week in May, and earlier at lower elevations. It is one of our more reliable wild fruit producers, and the plums make great jelly, jam, chutney, and if you’ve the talent, plum pie. It’s a good pollinator for many other plums, too, even though it doesn’t need a pollinator itself.
Yesterday, when we were at the Nature Center, the plums were blooming along the Arkansas River. What a delight.
It was great seeing friends and customers after the long winter! Bill Adams, and his son Will, had their great plants from Sunscapes there, too, as you can see in the picture below. You might not be able to read the woman’s T-shirt– it says, “It was us. We let the dogs out.”
The weather was perfect, and lots of people were there with their kids, dogs, and even horses to walk along the river.
