Plum trees (*not* cherries - they come next month!) have been blooming all over the city this past week. Edgewood Avenue in my neighborhood of Parnassus Heights is famous for its plum trees, and some Edgewood neighbors invited the entire neighborhood this morning to an impromptu street party to celebrate the plum blossoms (the photo above is one I took today of the Edgewood plums).

The most common plum in San Francisco is the purple leaf plum (Prunus cerasifera), and of the many varieties of this species '‘Krauter Vesuvius’ is the one you see most in the City.. Back in the 1990s this was actually the most commonly planted tree in San Francisco. It's a lot less common now, but still popular, and after years of popularity, there are thousands of them around the city. The tree is gorgeous for 10 days in February, but by late June the trees start to drop their leaves, and by Labor Day they’re often leafless.

The second, and less common, type of plum is Prunus x blireana, or Blireana plum. The tree has double flowers that look a bit like carnations, with deeper pink than its more common relative, and the blooms last longer. This tree is a hybrid of Prunus cerasifera 'Atropurpurea' and a double form of Prunus mume. It was developed in France and introduced in 1906.