I have one small tree just outside my patio, and a bigger one outside the kitchen window, which I have no idea if it is bullace (prunus domestica or krikon in Swedish) or cherry plum (prunus cerasifera or körsbärsplommon in Swedish).
It has long thorns on its branches and blooms in early spring, shortly before the first leaves come, with lots of small white flowers with a fantastic fragrance. In late August it has small yellow fruits, very sweet and nice plumlike ones. Last year there were almost no fruits as the spring was too cold and the bees never got the time to come to the flowers before they fell off. When i first saw my flat (in August 2009) the fruits were yellow and ripe and I tasted them. Tasted good. Looking forward to get some by August this year.
This year we got lots of small plants under the big tree. Probably because we dug up lots of thorny bushes and and turned the soil around last autumn. We cleaned up the space between me and my neighbor and planted bulbs for tulips and such. We’ve since also sown grass on the bigger area between me and my neighbor. Grass is coming along fine now. I cleaned away all the small tree-plants (see picture above) just yesterday. Don’t want a small forest under the big tree… I’d rather have flowers and those small seedlings had really deep roots and prevented anything else to grow there.
The fruits are coming along fine on the trees this year. Definitely going to harvest them when time comes.
If anybody knows if it is bullace or cherry plum, let me know please.
[Edited 2011-08-06] Have just recently learned it is actually a Mirabelle. They come in yellow or red-blue variants. Ours are yellow. All as sweet and tasty and good for jams, marmelades, pies…. anything you can do with plums you can also do with mirabelles. They are ready for picking any day now.
