- Author: Betty Victor
For several years my neighbors have had a fruitless plum tree (Prunus blireianae) growing in their yard, that they kept pruned, especially off of their roof.
This tree was planted close to our good neighbor fence and over the years it split in two, so I had a small part growing on my side of the fence. My yard had the benefit of some shade, even with most of the tree in their yard.
Because I had some shade I planted a ‘Red Lady' Hydrangea macpophylla shrub that has red stems with light red blossoms. I also planted a ‘Tom Knudsen' double dark red camellia (japonica x reticilata). A white climbing rose also found a home there (must have been a bird that helped that along) anyway as the rose grew it worked its way up the tree.
Today their gardeners are here starting to removing the tree, but they didn't get it all done, so eventually they will return to finish removing it. Unfortunately now I will have sun where I had planted shade plants. A climbing rose with most of it on the ground that will need a trellis for it to climb on.
Because my hydrangea and camellia are both large, I am not sure about transplanting them but will wait until fall. I will watch them and see how they do during the summer sun they probably will get. If they looked like they are stressing they will find a new home in the garden sometime in the fall when they go dormant. So for now I will try and make some sort of cover out of shade cloth for them.
It was a very pretty tree and I will miss not seeing it bloom next spring, but it was not totally fruitless and it did have a few plums in the summer that drop to the ground. I am sure the birds will miss the tree and the plums as well.