- Japanese Plum Blossoms. Careful Siting Against a Thermal Mass Wall Makes Fruit Possible.
If it wasn’t for the old West-facing stone retaining wall, and the 10 foot drop to the street, fruit from this Japanese Santa Rosa plum would never grace our breakfast table. It was a deliberate choice to site the tree to take advantage of the thermal mass of the wall, a little extra heat to offset freezing temperatures.
Cold air moving off the mountain 2,000 feet above us would normally freeze these blossoms every year (our last official frost date: May 10th) – but cold air, more viscose than water, can drop quickly in a vertical spot, leaving no damage.
Each of the last five years has yielded an annual crop of these delicious fruit, thanks to understanding how micro-climates can work to our advantage.
40 Pounds of Juicy, Purple Santa Rosa Plums!
When I crave Spring, Breaking Out a Bag of Frozen Plums Helps to Fend off the Blues: Pancake Sauce to Cure Winter Blues.
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