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:
Charles Houghton –
I tried twice with the bare root Santa Rosa. Both dead NOT dormant. Stark Bros. was amazing both times and sent replacement, once a Santa Rosa which failed and a different Plum varietal which sprouted (Thanks Stark Bros.)I buy again and again from Stark Bros. because I trust them, they stand behind their product.
Tom Tom –
The plum trees died and we kept them watered and did exactly what the instructions said to do. Left them in the ground hoping they might come back but they didn’t. Will not buy them again.
Darrell Saunders –
We ordered two of these plum trees last year. They looked healthy through the summer and Fall of 2018 , however only one budded out this Spring. The other one died.
Garry Pauley –
I followed the instructions and my trees dont have any life on them whatsoever. Wanted to wait for a while and give them a chance but it’s the second week of June so they must not have made it!
C ROSSMAN –
Unfortunately, we had a very bad winter 2018-19. The Santa Rosa never broke dormancy.However, my Toka plum tree is doing great. It had flowers this year, but nothing to pollinate it with… plum is doing well, protect by a chicken wire ‘corral’ to save it from rabbits–and sprayed with Deer off! to keep the deer off.
Jim Ringo –
After taking proper steps to plant my tree grew great the first spring. Budded out fine this spring then proceeded to wither and die shortly after my one year warranty expired. Have no idea what transpired but I know it wasn’t due to anything I did wrong have planted trees dozens of times.
Joyce Geiler –
The Santa Rosa Plum, the Wagener Apple and the McIntosh Apple all began to grow well. My husband ran over the plum, destroying it. The deer ate the growth off both apples and the trunks appeared dead and did not put on any leaves this spring. The McIntosh is showing new growth very low on the trunk, but above the graft line. I am letting it grow and hoping that eventually I can train it to be the main trunk. Might that work? The Wagener is putting on new growth also but it is right at the graft so I am thinking it is coming from the root. What might that rootstock produce?
Traci Kyser –
Was doing great last year but died over the Wyoming winter. Considering the trouble i had replacing a dead Cortland apple tree, i didn’t even bother trying. Was hopeful it would come back but doesn’t appear it will.
Susan Robitaille –
Wouldn’t know about how good this plum tree is because I have never gotten any fruit off of it. Blooms, creates tiny plums that just fall off. It’s supposed to be self pollinating, not sure if that is true. Big, beautiful healthy looking tree.
David David –
I’m very please with the tree again very healthy well pruned very nicely packaged I’ve always been extremely pleased with Stark brother service and the quality of their trees have used you for about 20 yearsVery pleasedWrite your review here. It must be at least 50 characters long. Consider whether you would recommend this product and what you like or dislike about it.