Thursday, March 20, 2008

Spring Day North Fife



Spring Day North Fife. A sunny but cold windy first day of Spring and the hedgerows, gardens and roadsides are resplendent in blossoms of Cherry plums. The Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera, syn. P. divaricata), also called Myrobalan (plum), is a species of plum native to central and eastern Europe, southwest and central Asia.

It is a large shrub or small tree reaching 6-15 m tall, with deciduous leaves 4-6 cm long. It is one of the first European trees to flower in spring, often starting in mid February; the flowers are white, 1.5-2 cm across, with five petals. The fruit is a drupe 2-3 cm in diameter and yellow or red colour; it is edible, and reaches maturity from mid-August to mid-September.
The fruit can be eaten fresh in some forms, being sweet with a good flavour, while others are sour, but excellent for jam making.
Cherry Plum is a very popular ornamental tree in gardens, grown for its very early flowering. Numerous cultivars have been developed, many of them selected for purple foliage and pink flowers, such as Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii' and 'Nigra'. These purple-foliage forms also have dark purple fruit, which make an attractive, intensely coloured jam. Others, such as 'Lindsayae', have pale pink flowers and green foliage.
I have a stand in my garden which provide red and yellow fruit, originally grown as rootstock for other plum grafts but left to mature provide profuse yields.


Prunus Serasifera Nigra
North Fife History. Cupar: A History History of North Fife Cupar. North Fife Property. Tour Scotland. North Fife Maps. St.Andrews and East Fife: Cupar, Anstruther and Crail (Explorer) Rent a Cottage in North Fife Scotland.

1 comment:

Henry Walloon said...

Peter

I enjoyed the posting.

It seems we share a common appreciation of this pretty tree.
Pleased to meet a fellow Myrobalan blogger!

Henry