Manor Cherry-Plum
- Zone 2
Characteristics of the tree
Manor cherry-plum is distinctive in appearance and delightful to eat. It also performs better than the average stone fruit for preserves. The shrub is highly productive, and hardy to zone 2.
Manor cherry-plum produces a small fruit, about 2.5-3cm in diameter; that is very distinctive both in appearance and taste. It is perfectly round with dark purple skin, almost black when completely ripe, and dark, red-purple flesh. It is often rated as among the best of the cherry plums, along with Opata and Kappa. The skin is thin and tender with a mild taste, and the flesh is almost freestone; tender and juicy with a very nice sweet flavour, and only a slight astringency. Some people prefer to pick and eat it a little earlier, when it is firmer and more astringent, but most prefer it when it is completely ripe and almost black in colour. It serves well for a variety of purposes, being very agreeable for fresh eating, but also very good for jam and for canning.
The Manor cherry-plum grows as a rather low bush with a spreading and somewhat weeping growth habit, reaching about 1.5 metres in height and spreading to a similar width. It is hardy to zone 2, very productive and quick to fruit – you should generally have fruit within the first two years. Its flowers in spring are truly a thing of beauty! It is self-sterile, and will require either a Canada plum (Prunus nigra) or another cherry-plum such as ‘Opata’ in order to set fruit (preferably the latter). If you have a western sandcherry at home, this may also work as a pollinator. Note that American plum trees or their hybrids will not pollinate a cherry-plum.
‘Manor’ is an interspecies cross between western sandcherry, (Prunus besseyi) and the Japanese plum (Prunus salicina). It was introduced by the Mordern Research Station in Manitoba, in 1945.