This notice board in the Beijing Botanic Garden stands at the entrance to their collection of Prunus mume or ‘Mei’, which is known in the west as the ornamental Japanese apricot and sometimes Chinese plum. Prunus mume is the ‘plum’ blossom of Chinese paintings and one of the ‘Four Gentlemen of Flowers’ in Chinese art, symbolising nobility; the others being the orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum. It has been cultivated in China and Japan for centuries, where Prunus mume is the harbinger of spring often flowering when snow is still on the ground. The reader who sent us this picture explained that ‘the Chinese version of the notice board mentions five specific varieties by name, some of which seem to designate form: e.g. “weeping branch plum”. For others it seems to be just a pretty name: e.g. “meiren mei” – “beautiful person plum” and note the pun on mei (plum and beautiful). These things are very significant in Chinese. Many trees have “good” qualities, e.g. people with the name Yang, meaning poplar tree, are supposed to be very upright.’
The text mentions that there are some 400 varieties known world wide, although the Beijing selection appears to be concerned with those prized for their ornamental flowers and habit – the garden, which extends to 6.1 hectares ‘is intended to serve as a scientific repository for the future cultivation of Mei, while simultaneously a pleasant and useful display and demonstration of its many forms.’ But there must be many varieties of Prunus mume valued also for their fruit, which is an important ingredient in Chinese and Japanese cuisine – made into a sauce, an alcoholic drink and pickled, as ‘umeboshi plums’ in Japan.
Prunus mume, as the variety Beni- shi- dare (alternatively spelt Beni-Shi-Don) and of Japanese origin, is in flower now in Kent – in early March and often in February. The blossom is exquisite – deep pink and intensely scented; every time you walk past there is a waft of perfume. Yet despite the large number of varieties known this appears to be the only one seen on sale in the UK. Perhaps this is understandable since, as it flowers so early, Prunus mume needs a very sheltered spot to avoid being caught by a spring frost and the chances that it will set fruit must be remote. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to know more about Prunus mume, if any reader has experience of growing this small tree and indeed fruiting it.
Joan Morgan
I currently coveting a Prunus mume ‘Beni Chi-dori’ (also known as ‘Beni shidare’) as an early birthday treat but would like to know whether anyone had succeeded in gaining fruit on theirs? I am keen on the idea of making the Japanese Umbeboshi pickled plum and the Chinese Plum wine. Does this flower prolifically? I’m in Nottingham. It’ll be planted in a sheltered, sunny spot.
I also read that in the US they have a variety called ‘Kanko bai’ – is this the same variety?
After the warmest winter on record on the South Coast of the UK some of my Prunus mumes have set fruit. I don’t know if the weather is the reason I’m seeing fruit this year, I’ve only seen them flower once before so don’t have much experience of them. My Prunus mume Beni Chi-Dori hasn’t set fruit (it is from a UK nursery, on its own roots). The two cultivars that have are Rosea Plena and Alboplena (both from a nursery in Italy, and both grafted). There are no fruits on my Bicolor cultivar (which is very fragile, plenty of dieback and the smallest flowers that only flush with pink if temperatures drop low enough). The ones that have fruited are on a West facing balcony, pulled into the door ways to give them shelter from the terrible winds here (not much survives the winds without doing that). The Beni Chi-Dori is in a sheltered courtyard, so protected from the winds as well.
I don’t know if this is any belated help Bren Yau. They are remarkable plants, though expensive. If I could only have one plant it would be a Prunus mume.