Pluots in bloom.

Our friend Ben looked out the back deck door on Friday and noticed that our little pluot tree had burst into a fluffy cloud of white bloom, lighting up the circle of trees that surround the quiet grove to one side of our cottage home, Hawk’s Haven, with its centerpiece, a large mustard-yellow Vietnamese urn.

Do you know pluots? Sometimes called plumcots, they’re plum-apricot crosses that bear fruit we consider better than either (and we love both). In fact, we love almost all fruit, unless it’s mealy like papaya, but pluots hold a place of honor in our top five along with black raspberries, black cherries, apples, bananas, mangoes, and strawberries. And pink grapefruit. And Concord grapes. And cantaloupe and watermelon. And peaches! We almost forgot peaches! And Seckel pears. And blueberries. Uh, wait, that’s more than five, isn’t it? Let me rephrase, then: Pluots hold one of the top five positions in our top ten, er, fourteen.

Fortunately, pluots are becoming more widely available in groceries, so you can try before you buy. But if you find that pluots’ rich, plummy flavor and firmer, less-runny texture make a convert out of you, consider buying one of these trees. All our backyard fruit trees—the pluot, three apples, two pears, and a peach (we’re still working on a cherry)—are full dwarfs, with the exception of our ‘Meader’ American persimmon and the naturally low-growing pawpaws. At 5’5″, Silence Dogood would like to be able to harvest fruit while standing on the ground, and our friend Ben has no desire to teeter on a ladder, either. Since most dwarf trees mature at just 6 to 8 feet, Silence can harvest the bottom half while our friend Ben harvests the top. And there’s certianly more than enough fruit for the two of us, our chickens (they get the imperfect ones) and friends!

Like plums or apples, pluots come in many color combinations: purple-skinned, orange-skinned, green-skinned, green with red mottling, yellow with red mottling. We’ve tried every one we could find, and they’re all delicious. Like all fruit trees, pluots require full sun for best fruit set, but, besides conscientious pruning to cut off any crossed or upright branches or too-narrow crotch angles, we’ve found ours virtually care-free. If you have room for a dwarf fruit tree and have experienced the incredible flavor and texture of a pluot, here are some nurseries that carry the decorative little trees:

Edible Landscaping (www.ediblelandscaping.com), carries ‘Spring Satin’ plumcot

Miller Nurseries (www.millernurseries.com), also carries ‘Spring Satin’

Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply (www.groworganic.com) offers the largest variety of pluots and apriums I’ve seen, though their website notes that they won’t actually ship the trees until fall 2009. (Apriums are 75% apricot/25% plum crosses, so they look and taste more like apricots, but have more plum sweetness than true apricots.) Check out their website to see ‘Cot-N-Candy’ and ‘Flavor Delight’ apriums and ‘Dapple Dandy’, ‘Emerald Drop’, ‘Flavor King’, ‘Flavor Supreme’, ‘Splash’, and ‘Flavor Grenade’ pluots.

Raintree Nursery (www.raintreenursery.com) carries a four-in-one grafted pluot tree with ‘Splash’, ‘Geo Pride’, ‘Flavor Grenade’, and ‘Emerald Drop’ pluot varieties. (Gee, we’re tempted to try that one!)

Stark Bro’s (www.starkbros.com) carries ‘Spring Satin’ plumcot and ‘Flavor Delight’ aprium.

Know of any sources I’ve overlooked? Had a good experience growing pluots at home? Please let us hear from you!