In Praise of Plums

I see lots of posts about Apples and pears etc but very few sing the praises of Plums . Our Plums here at La Ravardiere  never fail to deliver , it might be a different tree each year but we always get- a crop.
This year its this tree and we have taken about 20Kg / 40lb from this tree
So far made jam ( 36 pots ) compote( 4litres ) spicy sauce , frozen some gave some away made tarts and pies

We had the most success with plums here in the past, but the trees died from drought a few years ago.  I've ordered a couple more to replant in a different place where I hope to be able to keep them alive.  

another thing is that they are both easy to graft and  they spead by suckers at the drop of a hat

My mother in law lives next door and has a plum and apple tree side by side.
The plum started producing right away, it produces a couple buckets of fruit from a 8' tall tree.
It has had some pests, but it almost seems to be uts own trap crop,with the earliest fruits all pest ridden and the later ones virtually pest free.
Eating them at the height of ripeness right off the tree is like drinking wine.
The only down side to them is the bathroom run after eating 12 in a row.

The apple tree took a while to produce anything. It us plagued with pest and diseases and is falling down.
I wish we hadn't planted it in the first place.
At least once we get the chickens the apples will serve some purpose.

I love plums, too.  Moved to a new area in No. California last year, planted a Santa Rosa plum (bare root) in January and can hardly wait till it bears.  Although the new hybrids are sweet, I think sweetness is all they have.  I have tried pluots but they have no apricot flavor to me, just plum.  Why bother?  A naughty part of me would like to plant a damson and make some rakja, like my Serbian cousins do, but I'd need a distiller as well.  But damsons make very good plum pastries, as they are not too juicy.