Plums, Gages & Damsons- grid
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Our selection of Plum, Gage and Damson trees – dessert, dual purpose and culinary is always widening. Gages are a distinct group of plums being the sweetest. We also have a number of damson tree varieties available. All ripen from late July into September. All grown on our fruit tree nursery.
The Plum season lasts from late July until September with most varieties ripening during August. There are Plum trees to buy to suit everyone. Choose from well known varieties such as Victoria to the less well known but just as desirable varieties. Plums can be divided into three categories:
Dessert – are best eaten fresh. Gages are the sweetest.
Dual purpose – can be cooked or eaten as a dessert plum. There is a wide selection of dual purpose varieties including Czar, Victoria, Marjories Seedling, Heron, etc.
Culinary – best cooked or made into jams. Some are acceptable as a dessert such as Pershore Purple. Usually their fruit are large, so less stones in your desserts!
Damsons ripen mostly into September. Though not edible like plums their uses are varied. We offer a small range of Damson trees for sale that will grow well in most situations.
The Plum, Gage & Damson trees for sale are available as bare rooted one year ‘maiden’ trees being lifted and dispatched when dormant from November onwards. They vary in size according to the variety but many are over 1.8m / 6′ tall and will require reducing in height after planting to encourage branching at a nice height for picking fruit in the future. There is advice on this site and a helpful cultural leaflet will be enclosed with every order.
We offer them on different rootstocks which detemines the ultimate size of the trees:
St Julien A – moderate vigour. We grow most on this rootstock.
Pixy – semi dwarfing, a little less vigorous than St Julien. Just a few varieties offered on this rootstock.
Brompton – vigorous, suitable for growing into standard trees.
When delivering we use 1.8m long cartons. The taller plums and damsons will have to be reduced a little. Having planted the trees you can reduce the height further to the desired height.
You may buy at any time of the year. We keep our availability up to date. We will then contact you to arrange delivery or collection when the plants have become dormant.
Blaisdon Red
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
A heavy fruiting culinary plum of good quality. Good disease resistance. Skin purple-red with a bloom that is easily wiped away. Sweet yet sharp flavoured golden coloured flesh. Grown much in Gloucestershire for jam making from the late 1800s. Self fertile.
Picking time – late August Pollination group – C
Dymock Red
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
Known and to be found in the area it is named after and in the Forest of Dean. Round in appearance with some elongation. Ripens to purple and is a good dual purpose plum, the yellow flesh becoming sweet. The main photo was taken late August, as the plums become ripe. .
Marjories Seedling
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
One of the latest cropping plums with large deep purple fruits with a blue bloom. Oval in shape. A dual purpose plum with greenish yellow flesh that is quite sweet. Regular and heavy cropping. A late flowering plum and is self fertile. Originated in Berkshire in 1912.
Picking time – early / mid September Pollination group – E
Michaelmas Damson
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
Produces small round dark purple damsons with an easily removed bloom. No more than 25mm/1″ across. The greenish yellow flesh is sharply astringent so to use needs cooking. Fruit ripens in September. Stone clings. The growth of the tree is typically upright with age the branching from these upright limbs weeping from the weight of the fruit.
Presumably given the name Michaelmas because it is good at Michaelmas day on 29 September. Grown historically in orchards south of Gloucester along the Severn.
Old Pruin
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
In the past quite common in Gloucestershire especially along the Severn. Smallish plums ovate in shape narrower around the stem basin. Skin reddish purple with a bloom. The flesh is green & sweet of plummy flavour with a clinging stone. Ripens early / mid August.
Also known as ‘Velvets’ because of being picked early for transportation to markets and their bloom developing while in transit which might have taken a few days
Purple Pershore
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
An excellent heavy cropping culinary plum. Medium sized reddish purple plums, often lop sided with a neck towards the stalk. Self fertile. Arose iaround 1877, its cooking and preserving qualities were soon recognised and became widely grown in the Vale of Evesham.
Picking time – early / mid August Pollination group – C
Rodley Blackjack
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
Known to be used in the past for dyeing, also as dessert plum and as a rootstock as it suckers readily.. Plums often round in shape, but sometimes elongated even flattened. Flesh green with a damson flavour.
Rowles Pruin
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
A dual purpose variety with green yellow flesh that is sweet but with a damson sharpness. Stone ‘free’. Skin blue with a bloom that is easily rubbed away. Round in shape though a little longer than wide.
Shit Smock
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
The name suggests the effect of over consumption of this yellow green skinned dual purpose plum! Plums small, usually spherical and sweet with sharpness. Known in the Forest of Dean and in the Severn vale.
Smith’s Pruin
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
Produces ovate smallish plums with a dark red brown skin that are ripe around mid August. Plums have a bloom that is easily removed and an indistinct suture. Sweet flesh with the stone partially clinging.
Known locally in the Framilode area south of Gloucester along the River Severn but lost over the years from sites to be found on the one site at Framilode in 2006.
Sweet Damson
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
How can a damson be sweet? It sounds like an antithesis! Maybe called a damson because of the small fruit size – no more than 25mm/1″ across. Elliptical in shape, the dark purple skin has sweet greenish yellow flesh beneath. Stone partially clings when ripe from late August / early September. Arose in Gloucestershire and grown much along the lower Severn in the recent past.
Victoria
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
Most well-known plum. Deservedly popular and the main commercial plum in the UK. Though not top quality as a dessert it is very nice to eat when ripe and cooks & preserves well. Large in size, oval in shape with pale red skin & yellowish green flesh. Self-fertile, good pollinator. Reliable heavy cropper. First arose in Sussex around 1840.
Picking time – late August Pollination group – C
Winterbourne Magnum
£19.00Availability: In stockOut of stock
A dual purpose variety still to be found in south Gloucestershire. Medium sized plums, oval in shape, ripening in mid August with purple to dark red skin with a light bloom and sweet yellow flesh. Stone partially clings when ripe. Also known as Frampton Magnum Plum.
The plum arose in the area of Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne just north of Bristol hence its synonym and presumably would have been popular in August at the Bristol markets.
