Popular Cultivars

• 'Thundercloud' is a densely branched, spreading plum standing from 15 to 25 high. Its fragrant, pale pink flowers appear in early spring before the striking purple-red foliage that makes it a three-season garden asset. Thundercloud also produces edible, 1-inch plums. Blirieana is a smaller, earlier-blooming tree with fragrant pink or rose-colored blooms. Its bronze or purple foliage maintains its color through the entire growing season. This cultivar seldom has fruit.
  
  

Growing Conditions

• Flowering plums perform best in sun--for best flowers and foliage color--and well-drained, averagely moist loam. Trunks of trees exposed to continual direct sun, however, can develop sunscald, cautions the University of Missouri Extension.
  
  

Problems

• Flowering plums are highly susceptible to fungal diseases including black knot, leaf spot, powdery mildew and root rot. Their insect foes include aphids, Japanese beetles, scale and spider mites, cautions the Missouri Botanical Garden.
  
  

Warnings

• Planting a purple-leaved flowering plum in shade will result in its foliage becoming green. Trees in infertile, heavy soil may suffer fatal attacks of insect borers.