Wild Plum Hedge Plants

Prunus domestica: Wild Plum Hedging

Delivered by Mail Order Direct from our Nursery with a Year Guarantee

The Wild Plum tree, Prunus domestica, makes a good country hedging plant.
Wild Plum will reach about 10 metres if it grows freely as a tree.
Browse our fruiting plum trees if you want to get a crop of fruit proper plums. Alternatively, see our selection of native hedging plants or view our full range of hedging.

Wild Plum hedge plants are only delivered bareroot, during winter (Nov-March).
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Spacing a Wild Plum hedge:

Plant Wild Plum hedging at 3 plants per metre, 33cm apart.

General description of Wild Plum plants:

These bushy trees make ideal country hedging on any fertile soil, planted at the standard hedging rate of 3 per metre.
Clay soil is good except in very wet places.
Their fruit is edible raw or cooked and they can be planted as ground cover, one metre apart, to feed and shelter game animals and wild life each year. These wild plums are also called bullace or Prunus communis.
They are popular in the countryside when they are planted as a tall hedge, which is not trimmed every year and produces lots of wild plums.

Growing Wild Plum plants:
Prunus domestica are small trees that will grow as thick shrubs when they are trimmed lightly each winter, starting in their second year (then every 2 years when they are mature).
They are hardy and will grow in most soils:
We say yes to chalk because they will grow in chalky sites that have been improved.
No to the coast because of the constant strong wind: they will grow by sheltered sandy streams with fresh water.

Prepare your site before planting:
It is good to dig over the area where you plant a hedge several months in advance, especially if the soil is poor. Destroy the weeds first. Then dig the soil over; remove rocks, roots and other rubbish. Mix in well rotted compost or manure down to the depth of about 2 spades. If your soil is rich, you don't have to dig it over, but killing all the weeds is still necessary.

Watch our video on how to plant a country hedge for full details. The instruction to cut the plants in half after planting only applies to thorny native hedging and plants in the conservation hedge mix: this isn't necessary for Wild Plum.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

After Care

After you have planted your Wild Plum hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

Trimming Country hedge plants:
From the winter after planting onwards, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly once every winter, until it is mature. When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime.

Special notes on caring for Wild Plum hedges:
Wild Plum is a very tough hedge plant that shouldn't need special attention once it has established. If you didn't use a mulch fabric, it is beneficial to mulch around the base of the hedge each year.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.