Ripe Black Ice plums on a young graft

black ice plums, perfectly ripe on Aug 20. first time trying these, on some grafts made just last year. they flower early like other sand cherry hybrids. tasty, similar flavour to a black plum from a grocery store, better of course because they're perfectly ripe still at the beginning window, the skin is darkening quickly, and it's is good - with just a subtle tartness for balance. for a prairie plum, these are excellent for the size, precocity, and flavour. Many of the plums in our collection are on new grafts and i'm still waiting to try them, these were a treat this summer. Shown here they're growing on a grafts about head height onto wild plum interstem, on a chokecherry rootstock. nearby a lower graft was broken by a foraging deer, so the high graft offers wildlife protection and maybe also from the cold, often it's a few degrees warmer up there.