I have Italian plums (one of the few fruit trees the deer don't eat!) but they only bloom every other year. Has yours missed two years of blooms...or is it just now old enough to bloom? They're tasty plums for baking, so if you decide to separate it...I'd try to save it and plant it further out in the yard. The birds love them for sitting and yelling at the cats (the trees aren't really big enough for nesting) but they are pretty, when they bloom! And they bring in lots of bumblebees and other beneficial insects :) The tree on the left is the Italian plum... From Lavender's Garden And this one, on the left, is actually a bunch of smaller shoots (I think it was cut down long ago) that came up and grew together, as one big tree. From Lavender's Garden These pictures are from last week! The snow finally melted and it's supposed to be in the 50s and 60s this week. I'll take some more pictures, when them bloom.

I've picked plums early and let them ripen in a fairly warm place with good results. But I was home to check on them regularly and cull any that develop rot. Maybe keeping them in a cooler place would retard the process. Maybe.

As long as I stay on top of the watering, they do pretty well--but by being stingy & careless with the irrigation I nearly killed my biggest one last year, and when I went out this morning to take photos I saw that another one has dried out and is really suffering. So, due to my own neglect, I've only got two decent ones left. This one is now my best hope. It's 6 feet high and even made a few flowers this year. This had been the biggest until last summer when the main trunk died due to water stress. At first I thought the missing leaves were due to leafcutter ant, but no such luck. It's now trying to come back from the base, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will succeed as a multi-trunked tree (which would make a good base for grafting on a few named varieties). This one has been slow but is hanging in there; it put out a few flowers this year as well. Your request for photos may have saved this one--time will tell. I went out to take pictures and saw it was on its last legs, so I gave it a soak. Hopefully it's not too late. This 10" runt came from the same batch of seeds as the others, and was planted at the same time. Aside from being tiny, it seems healthy enough, so I just leave it alone to do its thing under a white sapote. I include it with the other shots just to make the point that, if you're starting them from seeds (and you have enough to waste some), you might as well plant several in each location and then cull the least vigorous. I kind of got sidetracked by avocados last year, and haven't been paying enough attention to the pawpaws. In Arizona they clearly need frequent, deep irrigation, and one hot day with a water deficit is enough undo several years of progress. They also need deep mulch, which I also haven't gotten around to adding yet. I'll try to do a better job of taking care of them this summer, in hopes of being able to give a better report next year. In the meantime, if you haven't already done so, you might want to join the Pawpaw Fanatics Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/927257504078942/

Here is what I have saved - many come from others postings from this forum- Ginger-Pear Preserves 6 cups cubed ripe Bosc or Bartlett pears (about 1 3/4 pounds) 3/4 cup chopped seeded lemon (1 large) 1/4 cup pera-flavored liqueur 1 to 2 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger 4 cups sugar 1/2 cup water 1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan. Stir in sugar and water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 12 hours (do not refrigerate). 2. Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour and 15 minutes or until thick, stirring occassionally. Place 1 cup preserves into each of 4 sterilized 8-oz. jars Honey Pear Jam 2 lg Firm-ripe pears; cored and diced 1/2 c ;water 1/4 c Lemon juice 1/4 c Pear eau-de-vie 1/4 ts Cinnamon 1/4 ts Clove powder 1/4 ts Nutmeg 1/2 c Honey 1 pinch Salt Combine all ingredients except honey and salt in a saucepan. Cook 5 min over high heat, stirring. Reduce heat to medium and cook 25 min, stirring occasionally. Add honey and salt. Cook 15 min, stirring, until the right texture is obtained. Store in a non-reactive container in the fridge for up to 2 mos. Honey Plum Jam 3 c Pitted and coarsely chopped purple plums 1/3 c Sugar 1/3 c Water 2 tb Lemon juice 2 tb Liquid honey Combine the plums, sugar, water and lemon juice in saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat, but maintain boil. Stir and mash occasionally with back of spoon for about 15 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat, stir in honey. Allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate in tightly covered jars for up to 2 weeks. Pear Honey 8 cups of peeled, cored, and chopped pears 8 cups of sugar 1cup of unsweetened pineapple juice Cook all ingredients until the color and consistency of honey is achieved. It says to process the final product in a BWB for 10 minutes. I also have experimented with pears poached in red wine- I originally got the idea from Victrola a few years ago- basically wine cooked with lemon (later removed) and various spices and sugar- then cook the pears until tender in the wine. I've used white merlot with homeade glogg and also reiseling I beleive with Amaretto and vanilla. A cinnamon stick in each jar and a few allspice berries, cloves, peppercorns, etc. Later I reheat the pears and then thicken the juice with corn starch and pour over ice cream or pound cake. I don't really have a specific recipe- its a work in progress, but these always go over well.