Santa Rosa Plum Tree
$104.99
Begins shipping mid-April.
Zones 5 - 9
Self-Pollinating
A long-standing top pick for home gardeners!
About The Santa Rosa Plum Tree
Famous horticulturist and plant breeder introduced the Santa Rosa Plum (named after his home city) in 1906. A long-standing top pick for both home gardeners and farm-stand growers, this dependable plum is still among the world’s most popular.
Santa Rosa is a Japanese variety (prunus salicina). Its showy, heather-pink blooms are extremely showy and sweetly fragrant in the spring, a stunning statement in your landscape. The blossoms give way to attractive bright-green leaves throughout the summer.
This variety typically requires fewer years to start bearing a crop than other plum varieties. Just one Santa Rosa tree can produce an impressive amount of fruit, making it a good choice for home gardeners or homesteaders with limited growing space.
Large yields feature fruit with interior yellow flesh that gradually becomes deep purple-red as it gets closer to the thin skin. These plums are known for their sweet, slightly tart taste, extreme juiciness and small pit.
As a rule, plums are high in vitamins A, C, and K and are a good source of fiber. The deeply dark-red color of Santa Rosa indicates that the fruit is chock-full of antioxidants known as anthocyanins.
Using the Fruit
Japanese plums can be canned, made into jam/jelly, pies and fruit tarts, wine, syrup or even baby food. They are also wonderful as part of recipe featuring any kind of pork, or in Asian dishes. Note: Japanese plums are not the best choice for drying into prunes because of their high water content, which can cause the plums to ferment in the process.
Growing Santa Rosa Plum Trees
All plum trees require at least 6 hours of full sun each day. Over the winter months, the tree needs 500 chill hours (below 45º) to produce fruit. Always refer to the USDA Hardiness Zones to see if the tree is a good choice for your geographic area.
Santa Rosa is self-pollinating, but cross-pollinating it with a different Japanese variety will increase your crop size and fruit quality.
Buy a Santa Rosa plum tree and preserve a bit of horticultural history, with the bonus of delicious, fresh plums!
Characteristics
| Bloom Color | White |
| Fruit Color | Red |
| Fruit Size | Large |
| Ripens/Harvest | July |
| Soil Composition | Loamy |
| Taste | Sweet |
| Texture | Firm |
| Soil pH Level | 6-7 |
| Soil Moisture | Well Drained |
| Shade Level | Full Sun |
| Years to Bear | 3-6 |
| Hardiness Zone Range | 5-9 |
Size & Spacing
Pollination
This variety is self pollinating.
In many cases, you may still want to plant pollinating partners to increase the size of your crops, but with self-pollinating varieties doing so is optional. You’ll get fruit with only one plant!
How do I find my Hardiness Zone?
Canada’s Plant Hardiness Zones will tell you which plants will do well in your particular climate. Each zone is determined by the lowest average winter temperature recorded in a given area. Hardiness Zone information is included on all tree and plant product pages, so you know instantly whether a certain plant is likely to succeed where you live. Natural Resources Canada provides helpful options to find your zone:
Joeseph Everett –
Planted over two weeks ago and already have leaves and a few flowers
Kim Dryden –
I was born in and grew up in San Diego, CA – My Grandfather and Grandmother, who were born and bred in Kansas, on massive tenant farms, also lived there my entire life to the days they passed. Despite the fact that my Grandpa was then a Whiskey Sour type drinker and a Yuppie in attitude and dress (was a semi driving Milkman, back in the Carnation days), nevertheless retained much of his “kansasness”. He could literally grow anything, ANYTHING, and keep the weeds at bay by way of hard work, stern looks, and attitude. I watched him, time and again as he got sample seeds from all over in the mail and read up on them, then tossed them into the yard so as to throw them away or feed the birds, or planted them carefully. ALL of his plants grew no matter how placed in the yard. His crowning glory? A MASSIVE Santa Rosa Plum tree, Planted just post WWII, when he came home and romanced my Grandma, then they raised one daughter, my Mom – He used a mystery fertilizing mix, which was actually just an all ’round mix, along with liberal dosages of fish oil. :D That Santa Rosa was my childhood obsession, truly. I ate hundreds of green plums as I couldn’t wait all that patiently for ripeness, then hundreds more ripened plums over the season. I helped my Grandma make jam, and jelly, syrups, and more. We ate dozens of Santa Rosa Cobbler, ate homemade Santa Rosa ice cream, and more… VERY happy to finally be getting my own Santa Rosa, as I’ve been trying for same for 5 years now. :D Live in NE Kansas, so climate wise and nightly rainfall, as well as the super warm sun in growing season should do me well… Call me happy!
Paul Kelley –
Bought 2 Santa Rosa Plums they were kind of slow to come out in the spring but are making up for lost time. Love them
Anna Davis –
This tree grew like crazy in a pot for a little over a year, I then planted in ground in 2019 and cut it in half, 2020 blooms are all over it. I can’t wait to get fruit! Perfect purchased! Love this company!
Peggy Denton –
Purchased this in 2017. It’s a nice little tree. The flowers this spring were wiped out by a freeze, so no fruit yet. The tree is quite healthy, and one day i hope to get plums. Maybe next year!
Ginger Conrad –
My Santa Rosa plum has only been in the ground since fall (July now). Probably, I will pull off any fruit for a couple more years. While it’s still a baby, it’s healthy and happy in my Phoenix, AZ area backyard. I am pruning it according to Grow a Little Fruit Tree: Simple Pruning Techniques for Small-Space, Easy-Harvest Fruit Trees by Ann Ralph. It was really difficult to chop it off at 18 inches, but I’m so happy I did it. It branched out beautifully and is the healthiest of the three baby stone fruit trees I got this year. I purchased a peach from a local nursery and a nectarine from another online nursery. Everything I’ve bought from Stark Brothers has been healthy and vigorous.
Dwayne Dickerson –
Daughter planted four fruit trees at her Boulder, CO condo in what amounts to the construction trash pile where landscapers bulldozed a layer of concrete, plastic and construction materials. She is blind and loves to go out each day, feel limbs for a few blossoms first year and hope springs forth she will soon have fruit to accompany. A 1/2 dozen fruit bushes such as elderberry, gooseberry, blueberries are prospering and setting fruit so she is extremely optimistic.
IRL GILLILAND –
Unfortunately it died last summer. It grew for a few weeks and then began to shrivel and die. I don’t know; it got plenty of water in good soil.
JOHN KOTVAN III –
We had a very bad winter, 31 below, it sprouted from the bottom this spring, but since lost it.
Michael Fisher –
So far, so good with the Santa Rosa Plum. Looking forward to the taste of this years crop.