Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Mexican Plum
Prunus mexicana
Mexican Plum is unusual among wild plums for holding a single-trunked tree form instead of suckering into a thicket, which is why it is grown as a specimen and used as grafting stock rather than as a hedge. Fragrant white flowers open on bare wood from February to April, ahead of almost everything else, feeding early pollinators and hosting swallowtail and cecropia moth caterpillars, and the summer fruit is eaten fresh or cooked into preserves once you've tasted a seedling to check its quality varies tree to tree. Deer browse young stock hard, and the heavy autumn fruit drop is enough to litter paving, so it's best sited away from paths, patios and decks.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 6–8
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- Not yet recorded
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 15–25 ft
- Mature spread
- 15–25 ft
- Plant spacing
- 15–20 ft
- Root type
- Not yet recorded
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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