Cherry Plums

We have a large conifer hedge dividing our driveway from next door's driveway. I've always known about the big red plum tree at the front of the drive - it only produces a few plums per year.

Yellow plums in my front garden

But while trimming the connifer hedge, I found another variety of plum. They were green, now turning a lovely shade of yellow. Most seem to be heart shaped.

The photo doesn't really show the true colour - they are a brighter yellow in real life.

Not sure what variety they are, but I'm sure they'll make a nice crumble sometime in the winter. As with any other plums, they'll be picked, stoned and frozen, ready for when we want to eat them.


Next month I will have lived here for 19 years. I can't believe I've never spotted these before!

Plum Crumble

Plum Jam

Made my first jar of plum jam this year, using the plums from my tree at home. It's a bit thick / hard though, not sure what I did wrong yet - I made it in the microwave and didn't measure anything - might have overboiled it or used too much sugar or lemon juice - will be a bit more careful with the next batch.

I used about a pound of plums, stoned them, microwaved for about 5 minutes with a big splash of lemon juice. Added a large cup of sugar and stirred it in. Then microwaved for another 12 minutes. My microwave is quite powerful so it boiled for quite a long time.

My son isn't normally keen on jam, but he loves it - he said I could make a fortune if I make enough and sell it! Maybe the taste of the jam is enough to encourage him to pick plums for me?!

Plum Tree Identification

Had a couple of pounds of plums from the plum tree in my garden. Not sure what variety it is but makes lovely jam and crumbles. Plums look blue on the tree, but it's like a powdery coating that rubs off when the plums are handled, leaving a dark reddish/purple skin.

There are several varieties of blue plums like Czar, but according to various websites, they're not due to fruit yet. Maybe the heatwave we had a few weeks back caused them to fruit early?

Czar type plum left, is that cherry plum on the right?

Found a plum tree up the road loaded with smaller red plums and red leaves. I can't find any matching pictures on the internet - would be handy to know what variety it is. Others have guessed it's called a red cherry plum - the plums are a cherry red colour so maybe that's it?

There are several of these trees planted out in the street and neighbouring streets, so could have a massive haul of plums. First come first served!