Seed Keepers

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

Cindie Strater wrote:

> Lawrence, how cold does it get where you harvest the wild plums?  I 
> wonder if they would survive the winter here in central Illinois. 

I would imagine so, it would be worth a try.
> Are 
> they small trees or large shrubs?  Do they set fruit on old wood or 
> new?  Old I think, but I'm wondering if they would survive a freeze and 
> bounce back.

Small trees. They can get to be 30' though. They set fruit on old wood.
The plum jam or preservs you can make from them is the very best that can be 
made from any plum.
Would be interesting to mix these with 20% sour cherry.

The trees will survive 0 degree temperature, maybe lower by 5-10 degrees.
We had a mild winter here. The trees bloomed earlier than usual I think
and I m hoping we won't have a bad freeze that will kill the fruit buds on 
these plums.
If we do and they survive I'll take note of date and temperature and be 
grateful.

> I might want a few pits to try, if you have plenty.

I'll have plenty and will send you some.

> We've been working 
> on landscaping our one-acre yard.  We're planning an edible landscape 
> and wild plums would fit right in.

You'll enjoy these hardy attractive trees. They offer good shade too with 
thick branching and heavy foliage;
interesting bark texture too. Goo wood for woodworking projects.

> Off topic comment: I just got back from a long weekend in South 
> Carolina.  The Carolinas are beautiful now.  :)  It was a real stinker 
> coming back to cold, gray, wet Illinois.  

I'll bet.

> I saw buds swelling on the redbud, grapes and blackberries.   So, there 
> is hope...

Good. The redbuds ar in bloom here now.