Prunus maritima-Beach plum

Description

Dune dwelling shrub of the Atlantic coast; tolerates the salty, sandy, bare bones beach sand and thrives in garden loam; provides food for many animal species; prolific bloomers- excellent pollinator plant in the spring and lots of critters feed on the plums in the fall; plums make delicious jams and jellies. Needs full sun, anything less stunts growth.  From my experience, you need to plant several individuals close by to get fruit production, which is the norm for plums of most types.

Woody plants need to be incorporated into pollinator garden plans and beach plum brings monster truck horsepower. Every May I stare in stunned silence at the vast number of pollinators that are attracted to the frothy sea of flowers; thousands of individuals from perhaps dozens of species, mostly hymenopterans (wasps, flies, bees).   Rarely encountered in the wild anymore, certainly due to rampant coastal development, but also, perhaps, to natural scarcity to begin with here in southern Maine.

Please note; Beach plum is a “late bloomer”, it is slower than most of our other native shrubs to leaf out, which happens in mid to late May.

12″ to 15″ high, 2 gallon pot size $30 each.