Matt,

Here are the plums that can handle to zone 4: Toka (AKA Bubblegum) very sweet and juicy, Superior, Starkbros beach plum, Pipestone, and Alderman. I like Toka and Superior.

Tony

Here is a description friend emailed me of his plum that I have yet to try, but definitely want to...
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The most impressive fruit I have so far (besides the raspberries) is the black ice plum. If you don't have this tree it is a must! I got fruit off of mine last year and it was unreal. The juiciest and sweetest plum you could imagine (like a really ripe store bought purple one that drips with juice!) These were so sweet and juicy that they actually had sugar crystals formed by the pit. It was stunning. I made sure I had a second tree of this. They are also the same size as the store bought plums so very nice for eating, not like a wild plum with small flesh and a big pit.

Can anybody help me out getting the black ice plum up here ?
Send me some clippings

Superior is great, but it cracks, the fruit falls when its ripe... but for flavor is outstanding. Alderman is ...meh... its decent but nothing I write home about.

There is Toka, Waneta, Underwood, Pipestone and a host of others that i've never tried. I'd love to see a hardy red fleshed plum.

Opal is the best early plum here in Finland but it is quite unknown in America.

http://www.orangepippin.com/plums/opal

Victoria is also good but matures month later,
(second best in the voting)

I have these scion wood (for grafting)
Opal, Victoria, Kubanskaja Kometa, Reine Claude Doullins, Jubileum (giant/super sweet plum)

I'm looking for hardy and cold frost fruit varietes, zones 3-4 (plum, apricot. pluot/hybrid, peach) sweet, in every way good (only branches) MY WISHLIST:
Black Ice hybrid plum, Bubblegum/Toka, Early Golden, Superior, Kahinta, American Mirabelle...

Apricot: Chinese/Mormon, Harogem, Westcot, Sulphany Whitefleshed, Afghanistan White-fleshed Apricot, Tlor-Tsiran

Pluot: Flavor Supreme, Dapple Dandy
Apple: Wolf River
Peach: Contender Peaches
Cherry: Lapin Cherry

Please, write to my email hifi75@luukku.com

This post was edited by Gardening_Maestro on Mon, Jan 6, 14 at 18:18

>>Opal is the best early plum here in Finland but it is unknown in America. Looks like here in the US you can order....

Here is a link that might be useful: Opal plum trees

If Matt is still around Black Ice is sold at Jung seed Co.
I do want to try that one sometime. A cross between cherry plum and Jap. plum. Zone 3.

Like Windfall_Rob said, Fedco has Black Ice, other cold hardy plums and many other very cold hardy fruit trees.

I enjoy reading Fedco catalog. You learn a lot just from reading it. These guys know their stuff.

Folks, Gracious, Pembina, Toka (and Kaga are almost identical) and Kahinta are much better (in my opinion) than Lacresent, Underwood, and Waneta for the "superhardy" plums.

Pembina cracks readily, but it is so prolific even if 80% crack you still get a good crop. We use the cracked ones to make "Smiling Plum Jam" which sells very well. Pipestone is much like Pembina (flavorwise) but larger and drops when ripe so you have to pick them before they are ready and let them sit a day or so.

Underwood is the hardiest, but has a very sour skin and less flavor. Waneta can be wonderful, but is astringent until perfectly ripe then it drops, and the fruit ripens over a long period so most of the fruit drops.

I pulled out all my Underwood, Lacresant, and Wanetas this fall as they were taking up space I could use for better fruit (and got a run of firewood out of them).

Opal does well here but was affected by the freeze of 2012 (1/2 of my trees did not have fruit that year) so it is not as bud hardy as others.

Ember has been a total disappointment, little fruit (but the fruit was a pretty yellow orange), lots of disease (for some reason lessor peach borers love them), and the fruit was not good enough to put up with the lack of productivity, so I pulled it out as well.

Mt Royal (round blue European about 1") is a very hardy plum, tastes good and is prolific I would recommend it. Stanley is pretty tough as well but need heat in Sept to ripen.

In colder climates date of ripening is important. Even if the temps get to 70 during the day in Sept, they are only there for a couple of hrs which can lead to the fruit not ripening and lack of sugar and flavor. There have been years here when the Stanleys and Empress plums have not ripened due to low temp in Sept. So it is best to pick varieties which ripen earlier if you are in the North.

Eric

I myself do not like Fedco. They charge extra for everything. 15 bucks if you pick shipping time, 10 bucks if you adjust your order? Really? Lot's of good and interesting info, but I'm a little put off by their lack of customer service well unless you open your wallet. I would be kinda afraid to order too without paying them the 100 bucks for membership, as they might treat you a lot differently. If you order supplies and they send the wrong item, their is a $5.00 restocking fee.
Out of principal I would not order from them. Customer service is obviously non-existent in their corporate culture.
Sometimes you just want to order and not read the history of Maine. I can't figure out what rootstocks they use for hybrid plums? If you order trees supplies, and bulbs, shipping rates vary, and you have to figure it out, and fill out three order forms.

The deal breaker was the statement under the Black Ice plum where they say they are not in favor of patents. Who cares the guy spent 20 years developing it. It's like the record company saying they are not in favor of artist royalties. Here they are making millions as a nursery (which they proudly admit). selling what other people developed, and complaining about having to pay royalties.
I have never seen a bigger group of arrogant snobs.

I ordered my Black Ice in the fall of 2012 from Wallace Woodstock and they shipped it early April of the following spring. Black Ice plum is available in dwarf only and Toka is available only in the standard size.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wallace Woodstock

>>If Matt is still around Black Ice is sold at Jung seed Co. But Matt and me are from Canada

Drew,

I've never ordered from Fedco. I mentioned it because I know that Fedco and St. Laurent nurseries are known for carrying very cold hardy fruit trees. Good to hear your view on Fedco.

The scoop on Fedco trees was mostly positive. The scoop on Wallace Woodstock was 50/50. It's a good idea to check the scoop on a nursery first before one places an order.

I am very interested in that "Smiling Plum Jam" recipe, please will you share it Eric? I have a Pembina plum tree and a Toka plum tree, I would love to make my family that jam. It sounds great.

Fedco is a coop so the whole corporate culture thing is propaganda nonsense as in my opinion the perceived customer service issues. Ive had great customer service ordered over a dozen times in the last 20 years and the one time there was a problem with my order the funds returned for that item. i suppose if your a customer is always right curmudgeon that doesnt like rules and cooperation Fedco is not for you.