Pipestone was released as a a cross between a Native American plum and a European plum by the University of Minnesota in 1942. And over 80 years later people are still growing this hardy, tasty, yellow fleshed plum. When we tried Pipestone several years ago, we were taken aback at their size, mostly coming in slightly less than 2” in diameter. And their flavor was really good. Sweet yellow flesh and slightly tart skin. They ripened early September for us in Missoula. When even some of the Italian plums in town, which are typically fairly hardy, had succumbed to some tip damage, Pipestone meanwhile did not have any damage. We’ve seen Pipestone growing in places that can see -38F, such as a cold part of Stevensville in the Bitterroot. There wasn’t any noticeable damage on the tree after it saw these temps on 1/12/2024. In short, Pipestone is a super productive, tasty plum that can we know has survived down to -38F, and some list it as surviving down to 50F, although we do not have direct experience with seeing that (we just haven’t seen any trees planted where it can get that low).

These Plums come in several different sizes for Spring 2025. Both sizes are grafted onto Krymsk 86 rootstock, which has shown to be our favorite rootstock for plums. They are vigorous (semi-dwarf), super hardy, and plums take very well on them.