Santa Rosa Plum

It helps. Santa Rosa Plum is partially self-fertile, so it can set some fruit alone, but a second variety nearby makes crops more dependable. Santa Rosa may set some fruit alone, but plant Shiro or Toka nearby for a dependable crop. Partners we carry include Toka Plum, Shiro Plum, Kaga Plum.

We rate Santa Rosa Plum hardy to zone 5, which means winters down to about -20°F. Our ratings come from real winters at our two Montana sites and from trusted growers across the North, not from a catalog average.

About 400 hours of winter chill (we count hours at or below 45°F), likely somewhere between 300 and 700. That figure is well documented: independent sources agree. California sources list 300 to 400 hours, Southeast sources nearer 650. It's low-chill, but only hardy to about zone 5. Our chill hours guide has a calculator for your winters, and our research page lists the sources.

We graft Santa Rosa Plum onto Lovell (full size), which makes a tree roughly 12 to 20 ft tall if you never prune it.

Our top use scores for Santa Rosa Plum are fresh eating (9/10), jams and jellies (8/10), sauce and butter (8/10), canning and freezing (7/10). Anything scored 8 or higher makes our Best Of lists.

For some diseases, yes. It's resistant to plum pocket. It holds up moderately well against black knot. It's prone to bacterial canker, bacterial spot and brown rot. Nobody has published solid data on it for cytospora canker yet, so we list that as unknown. Our plum disease resistance chart has every rating, the notes and the sources.

Yes, deer love it. Protect Santa Rosa Plum with a fence or a cage, especially while it is young.

A dormant bare-root plant, roots wrapped in moist sawdust with a vapor barrier, shipped or picked up in Missoula in spring. Sizes offered: 5-7 ft. Regular Grade or 5-7 ft. Larger & more branching or 5-7 ft. 1 yr. older. We guarantee our plants bud out. Stone fruits can be slow, so if one still has not budded out by August 15, write to us and we credit you for the following spring.