🌸 Pissardii Cherry Plum

What it looks like

Why this variety

Every purple-leaf plum in every garden center descends, in spirit if not in graftwood, from Pissardii. This is the original purple-leaf cherry plum, the burgundy-leaved selection that introduced gardeners to the idea that a plum tree could be grown for its foliage first and its fruit second — and that the foliage could be the main event for an entire growing season. Before Pissardii, a plum was a fruit tree. After Pissardii, a plum could be a landscape color.

The tree is rounded and spreading, typically 15-20 feet tall, with leaves that emerge a rich reddish-purple and hold a deep burgundy tone through the season in full sun. Spring brings light pink flowers, small and pretty against the dark foliage. The fruit is small, cherry-sized, reddish-purple, edible and tart, produced in modest amounts — exactly the purple-leaf bargain, and Pissardii wrote the terms. Compared with later selections, its color can be a touch less dark and its habit a touch more spreading; what it offers in return is history, and a tree that looks like the reference picture for its whole class.

Burgundy foliage; pink spring flowers; rounded, spreading 15-20 foot habit. The original purple-leaf plum, with small edible fruit as a bonus.

How to grow

Plant in full sun — shade turns purple foliage green, which defeats the entire purpose — in well-drained soil. Prune after flowering to shape, and watch for black knot and other stone-fruit problems; remove any swollen black growths promptly and dispose of them off-site.

Plant grafted trees while dormant in late winter or early spring, in full sun and deep, well-drained soil. Stone fruit drowns in wet feet faster than almost any other fruit group, so drainage is the whole game: raised ground beats a hollow every time. Prune to an open, rounded crown in the first few years so light and air reach the interior wood, and keep the graft union above soil level.

Florida framing, stated plainly: Pissardii is a cool-to-warm climate tree, and a North Florida trial only. Its foliage color holds better with some chill and cooler nights, and Florida heat, humidity, and stone-fruit disease pressure work against both color and health. In North Florida, plant in full sun with airflow and well-drained soil; further south, expect foliage to fade and the tree to struggle. This is an ornamental trial, not a fruit-crop promise.

Water & feeding

Water young trees deeply through their first two growing seasons, then water consistently through fruit development — uneven watering makes fruit split and drop. A thick mulch ring (kept off the trunk) holds moisture and suppresses weeds, and worm castings worked into the planting hole and as a spring top-dress feed the soil biology that stone fruit rewards. Skip heavy nitrogen after fruit set: it buys leaves at the expense of fruit.

Common problems

• Brown rot — the classic stone-fruit fungus, worst in warm, humid weather. It rots blossoms and fruit and overwinters in mummified fruit left on tree or ground. Sanitation (remove mummies, fallen fruit, and diseased wood) matters more than any spray.
• Bacterial canker and black knot — swollen, black growths on branches. Prune well below the swelling in dry weather and dispose of cuttings off-site; do not compost them.
• Late frost on open bloom — one hard freeze after a warm spell ends the crop. Site trees where cold air drains away, not in frost pockets, and accept that some springs will simply be lost.
• Birds and squirrels — they know ripeness a day before you do. Net before fruit colors fully if you want to taste the crop.
• Peach tree borer and other borers — sawdust-like frass at the trunk base is the sign. Keep trunks healthy, avoid mower wounds, and remove infested wood.

Harvest

Pick when fruit colors fully, yields very slightly to pressure, and smells fragrant — stone fruit picked hard never develops full flavor, and fruit picked soft bruises in the basket. Taste one before harvesting the whole tree. Use fresh within days, or preserve promptly: jam and jelly suit these small tart plums, and a modest crop handled the same week beats a modest crop left to rot on the tree.

Saving seeds

Every purple-leaf plum in every garden center descends, in spirit if not in graftwood, from Pissardii. This is the original purple-leaf cherry plum, the burgundy-leaved selection that introduced gardeners to the idea that a plum tree could be grown for its foliage first and its fruit second — and that the foliage could be the main event for an entire growing season. The tree is rounded and spreading, typically 15 to 20 feet tall, with leaves that emerge a rich reddish-purple and hold a deep burgundy tone through the season in full sun. As a named cherry plum selection it is kept true by grafting, not by seed: plant grafted trees while dormant in late winter or early spring, in full sun and deep, well-drained soil, and prune to an open, rounded crown in the first few years so light and air reach the interior wood. The full method is in the Propagation section of the Cherry Plum guide.