Plant Spotlight – Native Wild Plums

By Jean Cavanaugh

(A Wild Plum from this past August) 

Another of the native shrubs we have planted at Crossing Hedgerows is the Wild Plum. At one time, native plums were one of the most established wild food crops of Native Americans. According to the book, Native Plant Agriculture, by Indigenous Plants, Native Plums are more energy dense than any domesticated fruit you’d find in the grocery store and is only rivaled by other wild fruits such as serviceberries, pawpaws, and the common persimmon. Many of you may know that we are also growing serviceberries and pawpaws at Crossing Hedgerows!

(This shows the size of the wild plums.)

Native Plums are a thicket species that were once abundant in areas that were kept open by the regular use of fire. They grew in prairies mixed with Hazelnuts, Wafer Ash, Sweet Crabapples, Hawthorn, and other thicket species. Here at Crossing Hedgerows, we are growing varieties of some of these other types of plants as well. Many of them we planted, such as the plums, hazelnuts, and hawthorn. And the others were planted by birds and other natural means.

These native thicket species are disappearing across the landscape. Today native plums are becoming extinct as more and more land is taken up by industrial agriculture and subdivisions. And most states have also lost their primary seed disperser – the Black Bear. 

Here at Crossing Hedgerows, we are excited to see our native plums really beginning to take off. Following is a picture of one of them (in the foreground) that I took today.

(Native Plum thicket – foreground)

Wild plums spread by suckers, so as it continues to produce these suckers, we will be able to split them off and plant them in other spots on the land. 

And of course, they are highly valuable to our pollinators and wildlife! 

(Native Bee on Wild Plum Blossom feeding on pollen at Crossing Hedgerows – by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC – copyright protected)

“Outside of native bees, native plums are potential hosts for hundreds of native caterpillars and other insects which will help transfer energy up the food chain.” 

– Indigenous Landscapes

A wide variety of wildlife, from amphibians to mammals and birds, take shelter and find sustenance within the native thickets. 

As spring returns, we will soon be seeing (and smelling!) the beautiful blossoms… and then the fruit again this year!

(Native Plum thicket – Photo by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC)

(Native Plum Blossom – Photo by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC) 

(Unripe developing plum – Photo by Brennah Cavanaugh Photography LLC)