Oddly enough, I just picked my first Hollywood plum last night. The tree is young and only had a few plums this year. I did not spray it at all, which means only one plum made it until now. I checked on it and it fell off in my hand. I would say it needed just a little more time, but it was pretty good. I think it had a grub in the pit so I imagine the ripening time is not for another couple weeks here in Michigan. Bug damage usually speeds up the ripening/dropping time.
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I have heard a lot about Hollywood plum.What does Hollywood pkum taste like? Is mime a Hollywood plum?
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I’ve never had any fruit but the leaves look right.
my notes last year: “august 11ish. Sweet+sour, complex flavor, I guess like a raspberry? But mild, freestone, good size”
I have zero this year thanks to the plumpocalypse here (poor pollination)
there used to be a ton of red leaf plums in retail circulation, now there are only a few. if your tree is from a fairly recent retail nursery acquisition (and it’s strongly dwarfing) then it could be “the” hollywood. if it’s older or not dwarfing then maybe/maybe not
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Micheal, thanks for sharing your harvest notes, it’sgood reference. Mine is a grafted branch. It’s a very reliable producer. If mid of Aug in your location, this translates to somewhere near mid September is my harvest date. It fruits every year but they started in red color so it’s hard to tell if they’re ripe or not. Too me, they always stay firm till they were gone, harvested by squirrels. In the past, I picked some still frim ones and they are tart and sour.
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I remember it having a meaty, non-melting texture (peach term but I think it applies) but I waited to pick until it yielded a little. I like sour stone fruit so who knows if I waited until most people would be picking it
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It’s supposed to have low chill hours with the name Hollywood, but mine hasn’t fruit yet. I’m nervous of planting it in the ground and get nothing, then I have to dig it out.
It rained steadily through the bloom period here. The few fruits that set were mostly taken out by the squirrels while still green.
Unfortunately mine died, so I’ll have to try again next year or maybe even this fall when it’s cooler if I can get them at that time of year.
I went to the Stone fruit tour of Andy’s Orchard in Northern California this past year, and it was amazing! I tried 50+ stone fruits in a single visit.
While there were many there that I particularly enjoyed, the one that absolutely floored me was the ‘hollywood plum’. He had an impressive number of trees on his farm, but only one hollywood plum tree, which was given to him as a gift. My impression of eating a ripe hollywood plum right off of his tree was that it was like biting into a plum-sized concord grape. It had the very distinctive concord grape flavor that I love put into a massive package! It was also about as sweet and sour as a typical concord grape. It’s something that I definitely want for my own collection.
Does anyone know which of the three ‘hollywood’ varietals that would be?
The tree was probably around ~10’ tall or more.
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Do you remember if the plum was round or more egg shaped? Asking because Dave Wilson says it’s round but I see pictures of Hollywood trees with fruit and it looks oval or more egg shaped.
I am not sure which one is the better tasting variety.
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My Hollywood from fruitwood is egg shaped and the quality is decent. Blue Ribbon is larger and better quality.
What does your Hollywood fruit taste like? Does it taste like a concord grape like another person had reported? Is it all sweet or sweet and tart?
Also, the blue ribbon plum. I think that name is a Stark’s advertising name. It looks suspiciously like a French prune
I have a French prune that says it’s improved. I don’t know what they improved, but we got some tiny under size little fruits last year and yet it’s still managed to be a very pleasant eating plum. We are hoping to get to try more this year.
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Arthur Lee Jacobson wrote a well-researched book sorting out the purple leafed plums. He details how to identify the true ‘Hollywood’.
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Blue Ribbon is specific to fruitwood nursery I believe. I highly recommend it.
It looks exactly like the photo in the link below, round I’d say.
I haven’t grown it, but it is a very popular plum in Egypt where I grew up.
It has more flavor than sweetness, some tartness, but not too much. It’s one of my favorite fruits.
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That is wonderful to hear
Dave Wilson describes it as a round fruit so I’m guessing they have the better quality one?
I researched blue ribbon, and it was a seedling found among Italian prune trees.
I am glad you love your tree, but I have tried Italian and French prune and I prefer French, but that doesn’t mean your strain isn’t fabulous. 
So many things come in to play on fruit quality, The Italian prunes I got to try, might’ve been poor quality. The fruit slinger said she had to give them away.
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This is the one I have. A red leaf cherry plum similar to hollywood;Japanese Plum Scionwood: Blue Ribbon Red Leaf Cherry Japanese Plum Scionwood