Early Transparent Gage plum trees
Prunus domestica - Picking season: Mid
- Self-fertility: Self-fertile
- Flowering group: 3
Early Transparent Gage is a traditional English gage, but somewhat different from the more common green or yellow gages. It gets its name from the translucent skin and flesh - if you hold a ripe fruit up to the light you can often make out the stone inside.
Early Transparent Gage makes a good choice if you want to grow a gage which is not as fussy as the Old Green Gage. Cropping is good by gage standards (although still light compared with many plums) and it is reasonably reliable.
It has the rich sweet gage-like flavour and aroma of a genuine gage, but it is also a good culinary variety producing a well-flavoured straw-coloured jam.
Early Transparent Gage 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, St. Julien rootstock£61.50
Grown for us by Frank P Matthews nursery
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
Bare-root
BR11-year bare-root tree,VVA-1 rootstock£41.50
Medium tree
(2m-3m after 10 years)
Out of stock
Please try next season
BR21-year bare-root tree,St. Julien rootstock£38.75
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
BR32-year bush-trained bare-root tree,St. Julien rootstock£47.50
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
BR42-year half-standard bare-root tree,St. Julien rootstock£51.00
Large tree
(3m-5m after 10 years)
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
Next deliveries
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
By gage standards, Early Transparent Gage is quite easy to grow and the tree is a bit more vigourous than most gages. It can be grown in the north of the UK but benefits from a south-facing situation.
Recommended pollinators for Early Transparent Gage plum trees
Early Transparent Gage is self-fertile, so you do not need another variety to pollinate it to produce fruit.
However you are likely to 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 >
VictoriaVictoria is the definitive English plum, attractive fruit, good for eating, outstanding flavour for cooking.
OpalOpal is an early plum variety with a good flavour, self-fertile and very easy to grow.
Marjorie's SeedlingMarjorie's Seedling is an easy to grow, late-season, heavy cropping purple/black plum.
JubileeJubilee is a new heavy-cropping dessert plum variety, similar to Victoria but larger and more reliable.
CzarCzar is a traditional culinary plum, one of the easiest plums trees, will even fruit on north-facing walls.
Mirabelle de NancyMirabelle de Nancy is the definitive traditional French Mirabelle, originating from north-east France.
History
Early Transparent Gage was raised by the famous Rivers Nursery in Hertfordshire in the 1860s, from an open-pollinated Transparent Gage (Reine Claude Diaphane). It is one of the "diaphanous" gages, on account of its translucent skin and flesh.
Early Transparent Gage characteristics
- Gardening skillAverage
- Self-fertilitySelf-fertile
- Flowering group3
- Pollinating othersAverage
- Climate suitabilityTemperate climates
- Picking seasonMid
- CroppingGood
- Keeping (of fruit)1-3 days
- Food usesEating freshCulinaryDual purpose
- Disease resistanceAverage
- Country of originUnited Kingdom
- Period of origin1850 - 1899
- Blossom colourWhite
- Fruit colourOrange flush
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 while 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.
