I have a Starking Delicious plum and like wayne said it tends to have a very twiggy growth pattern, very thick and fast top growth. It takes a lot of pruning. I have not had black knot, but did have some type of physiological problem with the fruit last year. There was a brown lined pocket in each plum (hole inside the plum). On the outside, the plum looked beautiful. But, when opened there was this hollow inside. I read somewhere that the Starking Delicious plum is the old Johnson Plum. Search this forum and I believe you will find this mentioned somewhere. If you can trace the delicious plum back to the Johnson, then there would be no difference, IMHO.

I am from south western coast of India and I remember my mom and her friends / cousins using these leaves ( as well as marjoram and Artemisia pallens ) in making garlands. The leaves are similar to chrysanthemum leaves, but the fragrance is very different. The common name they used was 'manapatri' They also mentioned that it had some medicinal properties.

I've grown it and found it to be exactly as it's name states. I have also seen people from Florida post(elsewhere) that they also found it to be an awesome tasting tomato. Mind you my location and Florida's had pretty similar heat/humidity last year. Many knowledgeable mater people state we all have different tastebuds and that growing conditions (heat/humidity/soil/water) can also effect the flavor. I also know that some growers first experience with a heirloom tomato was from growing Delicious, enjoying it, and it is now the Tomato that they judge all others by. Many I've spoken to have said it was the tomato that hooked them on Heirlooms and is still a favorite . Some they have found to be tastier but overall Delicious has proved itself to be consitantly good and a heavy producer. Give it a chance and do your own comparison.

From the SSE descriptions it does sound like Golden Delicious, called Big Golden Delicious by some, and I can't tell from the picture at that link but it's supposed to be beefstak shaped. Very few folks have listed it over the years and the SSE accession # for it indicates that it's been around probably since the early to mid 1980's. Carla, seldom have I seen so much really wrong information about varieties as I did at that site. many are said to be heirlooms when they aren't, and Oregon Spring was described as a Russian tomato, blah, blah, when it was bred by Dr. J Baggett at Oregon State Univeristy. And there's a whole lot more errors. Unfortunately I think they just added the name Ginger to the proper name for the variety which is Golden Delicious to indicate a local association. And I'm sure you know how I feel about that. ( smile) Carolyn