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.
I may pick one up next time i see it.
Burbank is a popular plum at nurseries that don’t specialize in fruit trees. Not so much in orchards of experienced growers that have experimented with a range of varieties.
I’ve managed a few over the years, and they are a good plum that is resistant to bac. spot and possibly black knot as well, but they are not one of the best tasting plums in my region and in their season, even when thinned properly. One of the orchards I’m managing now has two big trees of the variety purchased from a big box with a gardening section.
I haven’t even bothered to graft any to my existing J. plum trees in my orchard or nursery. It’s a pretty plum, though, with beautiful orange flesh.
Of old fashioned and overlooked varieties, I think of Ozark Premier as a more valuable plum. It is unusually meaty and large.
I thought that Dave Wilson Nursery specialized in fruit trees? The tasting is at the Dave Wilson and Zaiger orchards… I would think it would be hard to find more experienced growers that experiment with a range of varieties more than them. I think he mentions that its highly used in their breeding of many of their varieties… maybe thats the only reason they keep it around.
I said, “not so much”. How is your comment really related to mine for the use of growers here? I simply stated my opinion about the eating quality of the plum and the fact that most nurseries that specialize in fruit trees that I deal with don’t carry it. Dave Wilson does not directly sell trees to growers as far as I know, and I believe very few of us forum members are doing breeding work with J. plums.
However, any nursery that sells more than 20 varieties of J. plums might carry it in their inventory, it is traditionally a popular plum, but not many have such an extensive list. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cummins sold it.
Have you grown it and tasted it? How do you like it where you are? My information is mostly for eastern growers. In the west the potential for very high brix can change everything.
I just checked and even though Cummins has a very extensive selection of plums they do not carry Burbank. Large commercial suppliers in this part of the country like Adams have never done so since I started ordering trees in the east 30 years ago.
Stark Bros does carry it and Seed Savers Exchange rates it very highly- they even call it meaty, which isn’t my experience. Perhaps it is a better plum under stronger sun. Seed Savers makes it sound like an excellent home orchard plum, for the quality of fruit and also for its growth habit.