North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[cutts <cutts@cuttsreviews.com>]

I find P. americana delicious. It has a wonderful fragrance as well as 
flavor, putting store-bought plums to shame. There is a stand of 100 
plants that were put in as a conservation experiment about 15 miles from 
where I am. Even in the years with the worst late frosts, at least 8 or 
so of the 100 would fruit.

Unfortunately on my property - with about 30 plants - I have only 
rarely seen fruit set in close to 15 years. (New Mexico at 7000 ft) 
Microclimate thing, I guess. I'm trying some P. maritima to see if they 
work any better.

You mention prickly pear in your other note. There is a different 
cactus on my property that has a wonderful fruit. It is a ball cactus. 
Not sure of the species. I think I id'd it once but forget now what it 
is. It is perfectly hardy here at 7000 ft, as are certain pricky pears. 
Unlike the Opuntias, the ball cactus fruit is completely spineless. It 
needs to be pulled out from the cactus lobes with something like a 
tweezers. The fruit is about the size of a small, elongated fruit and 
has hints of strawberry and kiwi, to my taste.  Our winters tend to be 
rather dry, so I don't know how it would do in a wetter place. Might do 
fine if given excellent drainage. You would need quite a number of 
plants to have a number of fruits, as there may be to two or three per 
plant. Maybe more under cultivation. Mine just grow wild in the fields.

Jay Cutts

On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 02:24:35 -0500 (EST), Steven Covacci wrote:
> Hi,
>
> All with experience with native plums, please post your reviews:
> Prunus americana; P. angustifolia; P. hortulana; P. nigra; P. pumila;
> P. munsoniana; P. mexicana; P. alleghaniensis; P. maritima...
>
> All of these must be quiet variable within the species, flavor-wise
> also. I hear mixed reviews on P. americana; P. angustifolia I've seen
> in generalist nurseries, so much be good; I hear that P. nigra might
> be a bit larger and/or better then most P. americana; I hear P. 
> pumila
> makes for excellent preserves; I hear that P. munsoniana is the best
> plum for eating out of hand - some say 'better for eating then P.
> mume', etc; I know nothing of P. mexicana yet; I hear P.
> alleghaniensis may not be a very good plum for eating, much like the
> European species, P. spinosa; and I know, as do many, P. maritima to
> be an outstanding fruit, which I liken to a sweet, unique
> cherry/concord grape blend. I would not want to be without: American
> persimmon; northern pawpaw; and beach plum, as well as a few others.
>
> Also, on the topic of sour cherries, anyone try (out-of-hand or in
> preparations) Prunus pensylvanica (pin cherry; fire cherry)? How does
> it compare to Prunus virginiana (choke cherry) - I'm pretty sure that
> it is more x-knot resistant then the later. Any advantages to this
> fruit, even if subtle, over just planting a typical Eurasian sour
> cherry: P. cerasus? As for non-native sour cherries (really plums), I
> don't have a lot of good things to say for P. tomentosa, P.
> jacquemonti (sic?), and some others - although the later dried is
> pretty ok. Just rather be conventional here and go with a traditional
> P. cerasus. But I'm looking forward to trying P. pensylvanica - then
> P. virginiana (which I'd never grow since I don't want to start an
> outbreak of x-knot for my cherry trees or the neighborhood cherries
> the same.)
>
> Thanks,
> Steve

--
Regards,

Jay

Jay Cutts
Director, Cutts Graduate Reviews
Lead Author, Barron's Test Prep Publications (MCAT)
505-281-0684
800-353-4898