Shepherds Bullace Damson Tree
Shepherds Bullace is a tough, reliable, large-fruited and easy-to-grow yellow bullace/damson tree, grown for heavy crops of unusual pale yellow to greenish-yellow cooking fruit. It is a traditional English variety, also known as Shepherd’s White.
The fruit is usually round to slightly oblong, with golden yellow flesh and a sharp to sweet-sharp flavour. It can be a little astringent when first ripe, so it is best left on the tree as long as possible to improve the flavour. After full ripening, and sometimes after hard frosts, the fruit becomes more useful for cooking, preserving and homemade damson-style gin.
This is not really a fresh-eating plum. It is a proper kitchen fruit, best used for pies, puddings, preserves, jams and gin.
Shepherds Bullace is self-fertile so it can crop without another plum or damson nearby. Cropping may still improve if another compatible plum, damson, gage or bullace is growing close enough for pollination. Shepherds Bullace is in pollination group 3 so If you want to increase your fruit yield, plant another damson, gage or bullace nearby from groups 2,3 or 4.
Fruit is usually ready from late September into October, depending on the season and site.
Bullace vs Damson
Bullaces and damsons are very closely related, and the names are often used loosely because both belong to the same wider plum family. In simple terms, damsons are usually the better-known cultivated kitchen fruit, often smaller, oval and dark blue-purple, with the rich sharp flavour people associate with damson jam and gin. Bullaces are usually rounder, more variable and often a little wilder in character, with fruit that may be yellow, green, purple or black and can be sharp or astringent until fully ripe. Shepherds Bullace sits in the middle commercially: it is correctly a yellow bullace, but it can fairly be described as a damson-type cooking fruit because it is used in much the same way for pies, preserves, jams and homemade gin.
Planting and Maintaining a Shepherds Bullace Damson Tree
Depending on the rootstock expect a final height of 3-5m if left unpruned, although regular pruning can keep it smaller and easier to manage.
Plant it in a sunny, reasonably sheltered position in fertile, well-drained soil. Avoid waterlogged ground and very exposed sites. Like most damsons and plums, it will crop best where the blossom is protected from harsh spring weather and pollinating insects can work the flowers.
This is a fairly straightforward tree to grow. It has moderate vigour, an upright habit and usually needs little pruning once the basic shape is formed. Our 2-3 year old plants have already had this framework started by the nursery. Prune lightly when needed in summer, removing dead, damaged, crossing or badly placed growth. Avoid heavy winter pruning on plums and damsons.
Shepherds Bullace can be grown as a free-standing fruit tree or trained as a larger fan if you have a suitable wall, fence or support. Water well during establishment, especially in dry weather, and keep the area around the base clear of grass and weeds while the tree settles in.
Interesting Information About Shepherds Bullace Damson Trees
Shepherds Bullace is an old English bullace/damson variety first recorded in 1892. Its exact origin is unknown, but it has strong historic links with Kent and Essex, where bullaces and damsons were once much more common in old gardens, orchards and hedgerows.
A bullace is closely related to a damson, but the fruit is often rounder and can be green, yellow or dark coloured depending on the variety. Shepherds Bullace stands out because it produces pale yellow-green fruit rather than the more familiar dark damson crop.
The accepted botanical name is Prunus insititia ‘Shepherd’s Bullace’, and it is also listed as Prunus domestica ‘Shepherd’s Bullace’.
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