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| We are in the first week of March. Looking around the arboretum, a few individual trees pop out of the landscape with some just-about-spring showiness. Above, we see an amorphous white splotch of color in an otherwise dreary winter landscape, under our cloudy sky. |
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| There are several plums blooming in the arboretum right now, but this particular Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) will no doubt draw the most attention. It's one of the larger plum trees and its flowers have appeared suddenly, covering its bare limbs at once. |
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| This Mexican plum is more than 25 years old. It was purchased from Woodlanders Nursery (Aiken, SC) in 1994 and then planted in January 1996. As the pictures illustrate, this plum grows towards the bottom of a steep slope. Although this specimen was purchased from out-of-state, you can find similar Mexican plums growing in the wilds of north Louisiana. Look around while the trees are still bare and see if you can find one. In any wild area, you stand a good chance of succeeding. This is a drought tolerant tree that doesn't mind clay soils. |
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| During the winter months, in the absence of leaves, we can appreciate its interesting, twisting trunk. |
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| The shape of the tree is perhaps even more attractive when dusted with a layer of snow. Last January we experienced unusually cold weather, and the Mexican plum, like our other southeastern natives, didn't have a problem with it. This photo was taken January 16, 2018. |
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| Winter is the best time to appreciate the ornamental quality of the Mexican plum bark. The dark, handsome bark flakes and peels, creating irregular rough ridges. |
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| Mexican plum bark (detail) |
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| At the end of winter, the flowers steal the show. Mexican plum flowers are terribly pretty and dainty. Unfortunately, their fragrance is not the most appetizing. It's not bad, but it's not a good one either. Let's say it's somewhere between crab apple flowers (delightful) and parsley hawthorne flowers (ghastly). |
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| Mexican plum flowers are not found singly, but in thick clusters, at the tips of spindly, knobby twigs. |
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| Mexican plum flower cluster |
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| Mexican plum flower cluster |
You can find more photos of this particular tree here.
