Krauter Vesuvius Plum or Thundercloud Plum or Purple Pony Plum?

16 years ago

Which would you choose to plant in your front yard? Krauter Vesuvius Plum or Thundercloud Plum or Purple Pony Plum or...... none of the above?

Here is my situation. I am in Raleigh,NC zone 7B. My House is on a corner lot and I have a small front yard 20' X 20'. My Front Lawn gets full sun all day and gets compeltely baked. My wife and I would like to plant a tree that provides a decent canopy to shade the front lawn. My wife really likes the look of the purple foliage and I have found thundercloud plums and Purple Pony Plums at our local nursery. Haven't seen the Kraiter Vesuvius yet. I keep reading conflicitn info about these three trees.

Which of the three has a more "upright" Canopy, I want it to shade the lawn but ultimately I would like a tree that when mature has a canopy that is upright enough for me to walk underneath it. Do all three of these plum trees produce immature fruit? I would prefer one that did not. Has anyone seen a mature Purple Pony Plum Tree? How big do they get?

If you think a purple leaf plum is a bad idea for my needs, what would you suggest instead?

Thanks for the help!

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Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
I'm surprised you haven't gotten any responses to your inquiry yet - purple leaf plums tend to generate almost as many comments as Bradford pears :-)

If I was choosing a small tree for my front yard, a purple leaf plum - ANY purple leaf plum - would not be among my choices. Here they are ubiquitous - the first choice of developers "landscaping" new housing communities primarily because they are cheap and relatively fast growing. But like many other members of the Prunus family, they are extremely prone to disease and insect problems, tend to sucker profusely and are short lived.

If you are interested in the dark foliage color, I'd consider something like Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' or a Japanese maple selection like 'Bloodgood' or 'Emperor 1'.
Dibbit
16 years ago
I agree with Gardengal - the flowering plums might be attractive, although I would wonder if they get tall enough to walk under any time soon. They are also very disease prone! Her suggestions are MUCH more attractive, and probably longer lasting.

You might try using a search site such as plantfinder.com (I think I have it right) and entering purple-leafed trees - you might get a whole bunch of stuff, although I will be willing to bet there will be a lot of plums, too.
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There's a dichotomous key in the 1992 Timber Press book Purple-leaf Plums by Seattle resident Arthur Lee Jacobson. If you find a copy at a library or bookstore (the Lynnwood Barnes & Noble was still putting out copies a few years ago) you will see that on page 69 he says that the P. cerasifera forms that are "obviously pink" at flowering time "cannot be distinguished by examining only flowering twigs alone". And that 'Krauter's Vesuvius' is "common in the western United States", 'Nigra' is "common" and 'Thundercloud' is "common in North America". Since 'Nigra' is basically only offered in BC in this region that leaves the other two as the main candidates.
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greenlarry
16 years ago
Suckering is actually the rootstock sprouting I think as most are grafted. They don't make really big trees tho and the branches tend to be messy. Some will produce small plums(more like cherries) but many are sterile.
There are a lot of purple leaved norway maples round here- i don't particularly like them and I'm not sure how fast they grow but they do look more tree like than those plums. Of course you don't get the spring flowers of the plums,instead you get samaras everywhere in late summer.

Krauter Vesuvius Plum or Thundercloud Plum or Purple Pony Plum?

Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

Dibbit

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