Chickasaw Plum

Spring has finally arrived and the plums are starting to finally flower after this long nasty winter.  This is an American native tree (Prunus angustifolia) that should be used more than it currently is.  

Very nice little tree. I had a couple in Tallahassee. They don't seem to grow around here.

I'd like to see the branches a bit shorter, but good job.

Lovely.

should be used more than it currently is wrote:

Could not agree more with you! Am a personal sucker for anything prunus, and i was just wondering the other day if there were any native to the u.s. Thanks for sharing, this is a beautiful tree!

Prunus umbellata, hog plum, blooms a little after the Chickasaw plum, but otherwise is very similar -- differing only in the lack of the red gland at the base of the leaf serrations. It too is worth consideration.

can you give us a little history on the tree Randy? i am intrigued. thanks for the info Jim, it's a beaut aswell.

Thanks to all for the kind comments!

appalachianOwl - I'm not sure how much history you want but here is a short version.  According to my records, the tree was started from a batch of seed in 2002 and grown as nursery stock. It started into training in 2010 when it was top chopped and forced to bud back out to develop the canopy.  This tree from the beginning was planned to be a rather natural style, hence just performing the clip and grow method letting the branches grow out and cutting them back to the first or second bud once or twice each year.  A little wiring was done just to position the branches for sunlight and minimize or eliminate crossing branches.  Pretty simple stuff.  During that process I have found that this tree when you prune the branches back is terminal bud dominant so ramification is a bit more difficult than with other species but with continual pruning and persistence a decent canopy can be had.   Below are pic's of the tree from 2010 to present that will show the progression.  Sorry but I don't have 2012 pic's and the 2013 tree looks just the same as the tree today.

2010


2011


Today in full flower

Awesome, thanks. Quite a neat transformation. Thanks aswell for the pruning info, will be tracking down some seed for next season for sure.