25.  Belle de Louvain - Plum

Season :  mid season - blossom April, Fruit August

Pollination:  Self fertile, but as ever, benefiting from the pollen of  different                         plum varieties.  Group D

Rootstock:  St Julien A  (moderately large)

Notes

Prunus domestica 'Belle de Louvain'

primarily a culinary plum, with a sweet-sharp flavour when cooked and relatively dry flesh

Larger than average plums, long oval-oblong fruit, flattened on one side. Dark red skin turning purple when fully ripe, with a noticeable ‘bloom’.

Yellow, dryish flesh and semi-clinging stone. Little flavour as a dessert plum but excellent colour and flavour when cooked or made into jam.

The dry flesh means that pies will not go soggy!

Very vigorous upright tree with characteristic large, dark green serrated-edge leaves . Reliable and prolific cropper.

Belle de Louvain may take a little longer than normal to reach fruit-bearing maturity - but this allows stronger branches to develop which will not break under a heavy crop.  The tree will grow well in almost any conditions.

The parents of Belle de Louvain are not known. It was first mentioned in 1845 when it was identified in the plum tree collection of Van Mons of Belgium. Louvain is a town in Belgium