Culture
Grow in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun. Best in a sheltered site in moisture-retentive soils with good drainage. Best sited in a sheltered location where periodic chemical spraying will not pose any problems for adjacent areas.
'Stanley' is self-pollinating.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Prunus domestica, commonly called common plum or European plum, is native to Southwest Asia. It small to medium size, deciduous tree grow for its fruit. Plums are one of the most popular of the stone fruits.
Genus name from Latin means plum or cherry tree.
Specific epithet means domesticated.
'Stanley' is a popular prune-plum cultivar. Prune-plums have a somewhat longer shelf life than other plums due to having firmer flesh and a higher sugar content. The higher sugar content also allows them to be sun-dried into prunes without fermenting at the pit. This cultivar is typically grafted onto several different rootstocks which, inter alia, control the size of the tree (tree height in parenthesis): standard (15-20'), semi-dwarf (12-15') and dwarf (8-10'). The tree growing at the Kemper center is grafted to a dwarf rootstock. Dwarf trees bear standard-sized fruit but have the advantages of fitting into smaller spaces and of being more manageable (easier to spray, prune and harvest). White flowers appear in early spring followed by oval, sweet, freestone prune-plums which feature dark purple skins and yellow flesh and which ripen in early September (USDA Zone 5). Trees usually will begin to bear fruit in 3-4 years.
Uses
Grown primarily for the fruit crop, but early spring bloom has good ornamental value.
This dwarf plum is ideal for smaller spaces because it is a small tree and is self-pollinating.