Aylesbury Prune damson trees

• Check pollinators >

• Picking season: Late
• Self-fertility: Self-fertile

A traditional English damson, which used to be grown in the Vale of Aylesbury.

Aylesbury Prune damson trees for sale

Aylesbury Prune is a traditional English culinary damson, which used to be grown commercially on a small-scale in the Vale of Aylesbury and surrounding areas of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire.

The fruits are small, blue-black in colour, and the stone is clinging.

How to grow

Although usually trained as a bush-tree for best fruit production, Aylesbury Prune can also be grown as a fruiting hedge.

It is likely to be tolerant of chalk, since the Vale of Aylesbury borders the chalky soils of the Chiltern hills.

Advice on fruit tree pollination.

History

Aylesbury Prune is assumed to originate from the Vale of Aylesbury, a traditional fruit-growing area to the west of the Chiltern hills. As well as its culinary uses, Aylesbury Prune damsons were also used in the manufacture of clothing dyes.

As with many old damson varieties, its origins are unknown, and it is not even certain whether it is a true damson (Prunus insititia) or a plum (Prunus domestica) or a natural hybrid. However like many damsons it grows relatively true from seed and is also easy to propagate on its own roots.

Aylesbury Prune characteristics