Wild Plum Bushes
Thickets of wild plum bushes (Prunus americana) fill the springtime roadsides and wild places of their native habitats with the scent of their sweet, white flowers. Also known as American or August plums, these deciduous shrubs or small trees play a host of landscaping roles. In garden settings, they provide three seasons of ornamental interest. Across U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 8, wild plum bushes adorn urban parks and streets, where their small stature doesn't threaten power lines. These sturdy plants also supply shelter and sustenance for numerous wildlife species.
These multi-trunked shrubs or single trunk trees typically grow from 15 to 25 feet high and wide, notes the Missouri Botanical Garden. Allowed to spread from root suckers, they form much wider colonies. The shrubs grow as much as 2 feet annually as they mature. The largest wild plum currently recorded stands in Washtenaw County, Michigan. As of 2009, it stood 31 feet tall, with a 25-foot spread and 52-foot circumference.
Reddish-brown bark covers wild plum bushes' low, slender branches. Before the plants' deep green, tapering oval leaves emerge in early spring, its sweetly fragrant white flowers open in clusters of up to five. The bloom lasts from five days to two weeks. Edible, 1-inch reddish-purple plums follow the flowers in summer. Several varieties of birds relish the plums' sweet, yellow flesh. The fruit also makes tasty preserves. With the arrival of fall, wild plums' foliage brightens to golden-yellow before dropping.
Growing Wild Plums
Although these easy-care, drought-tolerant bushes accept a wide range growing conditions, they perform best on sunny or partly shady sites with dry to averagely moist, well drained, acidic to mildly alkaline soil. A soil-pH range between 5.5 and 7.5 is best. Giving the plums room to spread eliminates the need to manage their suckering roots. Wild plums are best located where the 2- to 3-inch thorns that often sprout along their branches won't threaten children or pets.
Enthusiastic root sucker production makes wild plums poor choices for gardeners short on the time it takes to keep their vigorous spread under control. A handful of fungal and bacterial diseases, including plum curculio, brown rot and black knot, target the shrubs but seldom do more than cosmetic damage. The major pest threats come from leaf-curl plum aphids that that colonize and consume sap from the foliage. The infested leaves curl up, compromising the plants’ photosynthesis. Larvae of the American plum borer moth burrow into the plums’ trunks, especially at their branch crotches and graft unions. The pests disfigure the bark with patches of resin and their orange waste. Chronic borer populations may weaken branches to the breaking point.
- Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Fifth Edition; Michael A. Dirr
- University of Minnesota: A Proper Tree for Power Lines Factsheet 77 -- American Wild Plum
- Missouri Botanical Garden: Prunus Americana
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute: SelecTree Tree Detail Record -- Wild Plum
- American Forests: The 2012 National Register of Big Trees
- North Dakota State University Agriculture Extension Tree Handbook: American Plum
- University of California Integrated Pest Management: UC Pest Management Guidelines -- Leaf Curl Plum Aphid
- University of California Integrated Pest Management: Pests in Gardens and Landscapes -- American Plum Borer
Passionate for travel and the well-written word, Judy Wolfe is a professional writer with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Cal Poly Pomona and a certificate in advanced floral design. Her thousands of published articles cover topics from travel and gardening to pet care and technology.