Avalon plum trees
Prunus domestica - Picking season: Mid Mid-August
- Self-fertility: Partially self-fertile
- Flowering group: 2
Development of new plum varieties has lagged behind that of apples and cherries, but Avalon is an excellent example of how growers are starting to improve on the traditional English Victoria plum. The flavour for eating fresh is far superior to Victoria, and although Avalon's cropping is not quite as heavy as Victoria when the tree is young, once it reaches full size it is still a very respectable cropper.
The flesh is firm and sweet with some tanginess. The stone separates fairly cleanly from the flesh.
Unusually for a plum that is so good for eating fresh, Avalon is also an excellent culinary plum. Avalon plum jam has a deep blue/purple hue with a strong sweet flavour. The plums can be picked slightly underripe for use in puddings, when they are a pale red colour, or wait until they are darker red and fully ripe for eating fresh.
Avalon plum trees for sale
Pot-grown
All our pot-grown trees are grown for us to our specification by the Frank P Matthews nursery.
All pot-grown trees are suitable for planting out in the garden, some are suitable for growing in containers.
PG12-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree VVA-1 rootstock£62.00
Grown for us by Frank P Matthews nursery
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
PG22-year bush-trained 12L pot-grown tree St. Julien rootstock£60.50
Grown for us by Frank P Matthews nursery
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Bare-root
BR12-year bush-trained bare-root treeVVA-1 rootstock£49.75
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
Out of stock
Please try next season
BR21-year bare-root treeSt. Julien rootstock£38.75
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Out of stock
Please try next season
BR32-year bush-trained bare-root treeSt. Julien rootstock£47.50
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Out of stock
Please try next season
BR42-year half-standard bare-root treeSt. Julien rootstock£51.00
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Out of stock
Please try next season
Need help? Ask our fruit tree experts
Call us on 01759 392007 or fill in our contact form.
Tree specification
Photos of trees as supplied |
Tree sizes and forms
Pre-ordering
Pre-order now for delivery in September 2025
Delivery charges
Delivery for a single tree starts at £9.95, it is calculated based on your postcode.
Growing and Training
Avalon produces a strong-growing tree, generally healthy and not requiring much attention. It is partially self-fertile but benefits from another compatible plum tree nearby.
Avalon flowers quite early, so make sure you are not planting in an area prone to late frosts.
Disease-resistance appears to be generally good.
Recommended pollinators for Avalon plum trees
Avalon is partially self-fertile, so you do not need another variety to pollinate it to produce fruit.
However you will get a better crop if you plant any of the following pollinator varieties nearby.
If you are not sure about pollination requirements don't hesitate to ask us.
More pollinators >
Marjorie's SeedlingMarjorie's Seedling is an easy to grow, late-season, heavy cropping purple/black plum.
HermanHerman is one of the best quality early-season plum varieties, blue/purple with yellow flesh.
OpalOpal is an early plum variety with a good flavour, self-fertile and very easy to grow.
VictoriaVictoria is the definitive English plum, attractive fruit, good for eating, outstanding flavour for cooking.
Rivers' Early ProlificEarly Prolific is a very heavy-cropping early-season plum, raised by the famous Rivers nursery.
Denniston's SuperbDenniston's Superb is a gage-like green plum, raised in New York in the 19th century.
History
Avalon was developed at Long Ashton Research station near Bristol, and released in 1989. It is a seedling of Reeves, an old and well-regarded English plum variety. The same breeding programme also led to another useful plum variety called Excalibur which was released at the same time.
Avalon characteristics
- Gardening skillBeginner
- Self-fertilityPartially self-fertile
- Flowering group2
- Pollinating othersAverage
- Climate suitabilityTemperate climates
- Picking seasonMid
- CroppingGood
- Keeping (of fruit)1 week
- Food usesEating freshCulinary
- Country of originUnited Kingdom
- Period of origin1950 - 1999
- Blossom colourWhite
- Fruit colourPurple
British-grown trees 
Unlike many garden centres and online retailers, the vast majority of our fruit trees are grown in the UK.
Find out more.
In addition, all our trees are certified under the Plant Healthy scheme, supervised by the Plant Health Alliance.
Other stakeholders include Defra and the RHS. The scheme aims to improve UK biosecurity by setting standards
for all growers and retailers involved in selling plants in the UK.
Find out more
Guaranteed fruit trees
When you buy your fruit tree from Orange Pippin Fruit Trees we guarantee it for the first season in your garden whilst it gets established. If it doesn't grow successfully, we'll either replace it the following season or offer a refund - subject to some conditions.
Find out more.
More about plum trees
Eating plums, also known as dessert plums, offer some of the sweetest flavours possible in the temperate garden, rivaling the best of tropical fruits. We particularly rate Avalon, Oullins Gage, Cambridge Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, Old Green Gage, and Opal.
There are several things you can do, as the gardener, to enhance the flavours of these sweet fruits. Firstly, try to plant the tree in full sun - because it is sunlight that ripens the fruits and ensures the maximum sweetness. Secondly, thin the fruitlets in June. To be fair, thinning plum fruitlets is a tedious job, but it is well worth doing because most plum varieties set too many fruits, which leads to poorer fruit size and bland flavours. So if you think your tree has over-set, carefully prune off the developing fruitlets, and don't be surprised if you end up removing half of them or even more - the tree will reward you later on.
