Description
P. maritima – Beach Plum – Sand Plum – This untidy, rounded, dense, suckering deciduous shrub found from coastal Maine to Virginia where it grows in sandy or gravelly soil grows 6-8′ feet tall with an indefinite spread.It has very dark bark.It produces ovate to elliptic, sharply toothed, deep green leaves, 1 ½-3″ long, pale green and downy on the undersides.In mid spring it bears single or double white or pale pink flowers, ½” across, held in cluster of 2 to 3.Flowers are followed by tasty edible, glaucous-purple fruit, ½-1″ across, ripening in late summer.Extremely salt tolerant and useful for erosion control.
Grow in any moist but well drained, moderately fertile, humus enriched soil, deciduous species and cultivars in full sun. Trim deciduous hedges after flowering, evergreen in early or mid spring.Protect from strong wind.Feed with high nitrogen fertilizer.Few are drought tolerant.
Zones 3-6
