I’ve heard good things so I picked this up from work. Pics are from a few weeks ago. I’ll be adding a Santa Rosa plum in June as the pollinator…
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We inherited a huge, spreading Burbank with our property, and we love the thing. It makes great jam and cobbler, and can be insanely productive. This was one branch, a couple of years ago:
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I’m surprised that branch was still attached to the tree. Brady
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A bit of thinning was indeed required.
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Jerry, now I can’t wait until the next few years to start getting fruit! Thanks for sharing. It’s aways a bonus when you arrive with a mature tree already on the property 
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I’ve had good success grafting between Santa Rosa and Burbank each Scions for the other…cleft grafts
I didn’t get around to getting a Santa Rosa as a pollinator but it still set about 8-10 fruit this year?? …
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Luckily, those bees get around.
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I have both Santa Rosa and Burbank plum tree…first time heavy crop on both…but…i can’t tell the difference …plums look exactly the same and I think they taste the same… am I missing something?
In my experience, Santa Rosa has consistently darker skin. Burbank tends to be mostly golden, though blushed red where exposed to the sun. Similarly, Santa Rosa has red bleeding into the flesh, whereas Burbank is mostly yellow inside. Burbank also has a more apricot-like taste, to my mind. It’s very good.
It’s possible that my “Burbank” is misidentified, though, so I’d be interested in hearing what others think about this.
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jerrry
okay I’ll see if I can confirm the parameters you note…color and taste
Looks like a few more weeks till both are ripe
zone 6… Pittsburgh PA
Dave Wilson is one of the few sources that I’ve run across for Burbank. Their description of it includes a photo which matches my experience. Contrast it with their description of Santa Rosa.
These are two very different plums, but it would make sense to return to this discussion when your plums are ripe.
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Jerry and Stan
having just sampled both varieties, I have to agree with your comparison.
One more difference, seems Burbank ripen a bit later than Santa Rosa, maybe a week or so.
one indicator…the robins have pecked away at Rosas for last couple weeks and left the burbank’s largely untouched… I think that’s about to change
Yes, that’s true here as well.
The birds (mostly crows, here) tend to show up when they get fully ripe. The yellowjackets do, too.
I’m probably a week out from that here. Most of my fruit trees are bearing a bit early this year.