Deeply Rooted

Pink Glow or Muckle Plum?

  • Sheldon Falk, Blog Coordinator
  • Owner and Operator, Falk Nurseries
Plum Muckle

Whatever the name is, this tree needs a little promotion. It’s not uncommon to name plants after their breeders. It’s a good way to honour people. Thank you Mr. Muckle for your contribution. He crossbred the shrub, flowering almond also known as Russian almond with our very prairie native plum tree. This cold hardy little tree needs a little promotion.

It flowers a good week earlier than ornamental crabs and blooms fuchsia pink. There are no leaves when it starts to bloom so the Bloom gets all the attention. The leaves are glossy olive green through the summer. This is a small tree only 12 ft. tall and 8 feet wide. It fits well when looking to make small yards more attractive. Many hybrids have no fruit and this is no exception. There’s no clean up. It ends the season with a pleasant orange fall colour. It does not like wet spots but is drought tolerant once established. It would do very well on the east or South side of a building or anywhere in a fenced-in backyard or moderately sheltered site. It will require a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight and will not tolerate soggy soil.

This is the closest tree we can grow resembling the less Hardy Japanese pink flowering cherries or eastern redbud. We recommended using it near the house as a feature plant or beside the deck where you can enjoy it. We’ve decided to personally tag it as pink glow because it just seems to describe the tree so well.