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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

The One That Doesn't Make the Headlines

Cherry blossoms are beautiful, and a cherry orchard in bloom is an all-too-brief, heavenly sight. Nevertheless, I’d like to give the cherries a little competition by championing a different fruit-bearing species. There are one or two plum orchards near where I live, but the nearest plum tree, and the dearest to my heart, is the little plum tree in our front yard.

Here it is from bud first blossom to full bloom.





Not ready to give a book report tonight, but I'm reading William Irwin Thompson's AT THE EDGE OF HISTORY, which I first (and last) read 35 years ago. What a strange book to read on the heels of Wendell Berry's BRINGING IT TO THE TABLE. Two more opposing worldviews could hardly be found.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Plumb lovely, ma'am. Does the little tree produce red, yellow, purple or black plums? Or something else I don't even know about?

I loved plums when I was little, but I can't seem to find ones as sweet as the ones I remember. By which I assume I am getting to be an old lady and cranky at that.

P. J. Grath said...

For a look at last year's two plums, our first harvest from the little tree, see http://booksinnorthport.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-subtle-and-bright.html
or take my word for it that the skins are bright red, the flesh sweet yellow.

There is another plum variety which I covet immensely for the beauty of its spring bloom (very different from my tree) but which no one, not even the folks at the Conservation District, have yet been able to identify for me so I could order one someplace. Those folks say the fruit is delicious, too. Are they stonewalling me to corner the Lake Leelanau market? Don't think so. It's just one of life's little local mysteries.