My Santa Rosa plum tree has been growing for 10 years. It produced more than 100 delicious plums in early July. The fruit is sweet and juicy, with red-purple skin and a slight tartness.
The Santa Rosa plum is a well-known Japanese variety developed by Luther Burbank. “Santa Rosa” was introduced in 1906. By 1945, the cultivar accounted for 36% of the California plum harvest. Burbank was a prolific plant breeder, with 113 plum varieties introduced in his lifetime (1849 to 1926).
Now more than 100 varieties of plums are grown. Plums are grown on 30,000 acres in California. California produces 70% of plums grown in the United States. According to statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture, the plum yield in California in the years since 2000 has been 4 to 6 tons of fruit per acre.
— Katie Martin, UC Marin Master Gardeners
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