Today in the orchard
The fruit is ripening at an increasingly rapid pace. It’s an ongoing challenge to keep up. One thing I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) is you have to be out there checking on the trees daily. Sometimes, you have to check hourly. Today we picked the last of the Gracious plums as well as all the Kahinta plums. You don’t actually “pick” the plums. Rather you gently touch the fruit ,and it drops into your hand. It’s unbelievable.
Gracious is an interesting plum. It an absolutely delicious fruit with a great texture, although what we call Gracious may be incorrect. I received the scionwood for “Gracious” about forty-five years ago from Robert Kurle at NAFEX. Bob sent me a pile of plum scionwood in the early 1980’s, and I grafted it all. At that time I was just learning about plums. Some of the cultivars he sent were the European types which all eventually got black knot (Apiosporina morbosa). In the end I cut them down and quit growing them. The hybrid types that he sent grew well, and I continue to grow them. They do not get black knot, are hardy and the quality is excellent.
One drawback with the hybrids is that they are clingstone, with one exception: Gracious. Supposedly Gracious is a hybrid type that is freestone. I’ve grown what I presumed to be Gracious for nearly a half century. The quality is excellent, but the fruit is definitely not freestone. This could mean that Bob or I (or someone else) mixed up the scionwood along the way. It could also mean that Gracious never was freestone. As far as I know there is no plum DNA profiling being done. If any reader out there knows of anyone growing true freestone Gracious plums, please point them in my direction. Meanwhile, we continue to grow (and love) our “Gracious”. It’s a very good plum, clingstone and all.