PLUMS are believed to have been the first fruits taken into cultivation, providing man a very long time to fiddle around with their genes. With natural hybridisation further stirring the genomic pot, there are now a bewildering number of ‘types’, although they fall into subspecies groups. The European plums are derived from a blessed, if complex, union consisting of one-third cherry plum, two-thirds blackthorn, plus a suspected plum species of unknown lineage that slipped between the sheets. This resultant plum is Prunus domestica subsp. domestica, whereas damsons (right) and bullaces are lumped together as P. domestica subsp. insititia. The Mirabelle plum, not to be confused with the myrobolan (or cherry) plum, languishes in a genetic backwater of its own. The cherry plum is a summer fruit, so I will not relate its story, beyond saying that it is pleasant, patchily common, does indeed look like a cherry and fruits irregularly due to its reckless winter flowering.
Denne historien er fra September 11, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra September 11, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
