American or wild plums ??

well i'm not a happy camper..i ordered 2 mulberry trees and they substituted American plums..i looked them up in my edible wild plants book and they ARE edible..but i doubt if they are very palatable..

ok..so i planted them..they say thorney..i need thorney like i need a hole in the head..i had a spot where i could put them..so i put them there..

OK I have books that tell me i can make jam, jelly and if i add fruit with i can make pie..but i'm not totally convinced that this is a good thing..anyone want to convince me???

they just substituted them because they were out of mulberries or what? sorry. did you get your money back? I would pitch a fit if they didn't credit you for them.

deer would probably love them. 

talked to a gal from the gardenweb forum and she says she has them growing in her yard and they are good to can or to dry for prunes..but they are kinda a cross between sweet and sour?

I know I should pitch a fit..but you know what..i'm just so tired of dealing with people any ore..the stress of 15 years of dealing with people daily..i just want this to be a ME time..i think i'll let it slide..

yeah ..they said that their Mulberry crop failed..and so these were a substitute..I am sure I checked the boxes on all the orders saying NO SUBSTITUTES...but I might have missed that one..

I've found a few books that have them in them..say they are thorney but gave some ways they can be used for food..i stuck them in the ground..we'll see..like you said ..if I don't like them the animals i'm sure will..or they'll make good firewood.

I am familiar with sandhill plum in kansas which is similar to american plum.   The jelly from it is delicious and a beautiful color.    I am amazed that they would substitute a large shrub for a 30 to 40' tree!

http://www.kansasforests.org/conservation/shrubs/sandhillplum.shtml

I did look up the American Plum and it says it can reach 36 ' or can be maintained as a large shrub..but yes much smaller than the mulberries.

I went ahead and planted something else where I was going to put the mulberries..that will reach a larger size..as I wanted larger trees in that area..but I put the American Plums in an area where smaller trees or shrubs will work better..

I am working on the woods this year..and if I am able to get the mulberries sometime in the future I'll plan on putting them into the edge of my newly cleared out dead tree area of the woods..as I'll need trees and shrubs for the woods..

I have a fairly good size aspen woods with just a few ash and maple trees that are in good shape and most of the aspen are dead or dying..as they only live a short life..I'd say probably about 70 % of them are needing to be removed..

any that are good enough we'll cut for firewood (not the really nice ones that are still in good shape..just the dying ones)..and the dead dead rotting ones we'll probably use as compost (or try the hugelkulture)..we'll always leave a few of them up for woodpeckers..and we generall keep some piles of branches and logs for wildlife habitat..but there will be an awfully large area of this woods that will need to be reforested..sure some aspens will resprout from the ones we cut down that have any life left in them..but we will want a bit more diversity..so the mulberries will work out well in there..and any other trees we can get our greedy little hands on..

This past week I have planted a lot more trees..but none so far in the woods except on the s edge of the woods i did put in 3 walnut family trees (1 carpathian, 1 black walnut and 1 butternut).

I thought about putting those wild plums in there..but there will be so much heavy equipment (tractor, truck , chainsaw..crashing trees,etc.) going in and out of the woods i figured right now they are safer in another area.

I've had that problem in the past, so if there is a place in order form for comments, I will put in caps 'NO SUBSTITUTIONS'.

What company did you order from?  I would like to know for future orders.

Sue

i honestly thought I had put NO SUBTITUTIONS on all my orders..I think this was B urgess..not the best company anyway..I only had ordered a couple things from them but everything came in pretty good condition..just those two trees were substitutes..

this is not a company i use regularly.

i tell you i got some tomato plants (seedless for my husabnd who can't eat seeds) from Burpee and they were so beautiful and shipped so nice it was shocking..a little high price but if they do what I need then I'll be happy..as Ron loves tomatos but the seeds make him extremely ill..and you can't always get all the seeds out..