There are more than 7,000 trees in Alexandra Park and our resident expert, Stephen Middleton from The Friends of Alexandra Park is introducing us to some of his favourites.

The fruit season is now underway and in the Grove the Yellow Pershore Plum (Prunus domestica ’Yellow Pershore’) is our July Tree of the Month.  After being planted back in 2014, it is now producing large amounts of tasty fruit. 

To find the tree; look for the group of orchard trees just to the East of the 345 Play Group in the Grove. The plum tree is furthest away in the middle row.

The origin of the domestic plum species is uncertain, but it is believed to be a hybrid of the blackthorn and the myrobalan plum many centuries in the past.

This species was probably introduced into this country by the Romans. The fruit can be many different colours, green, red, purple and, in the case of our Tree of the Month, yellow.

The plum leaves are oval, matt and serrated. The white flowers are produced before the leaves in late March or early April.

The fruit is starting to ripen in July and plums have an advantage over many stone fruits in that the juicy part comes away from the stone quite easily.

Apart from the tasty fruit, plum trees have another use. The wood has a fine grain and can be used in musical instruments.

The Yellow Pershore cultivar dates back to 1827 when a publican discovered the fruit in Tiddesley Wood near town of Pershore in Worcestershire and the variety has been cultivated ever since.

The yellow egg plum (another name for the tree) is good for both cooking and bottling. It can also be eaten straight off the tree if the fruit has turned yellow and is soft.

The town of Pershore hosts a Plum Festival during the summer – a place for all “plumophiles”. 

Check out the other trees in this mini orchard, there are apples, medlars, pears and greengages all producing fruit.