Tiny Plum Heaven
Several decades ago, after a long search, I bought my current home in Northern California. We found the house in October, and I fell in love with the large but mostly undeveloped garden space and the mature trees that came with the property. At the time, I didn't pay much attention to what species of trees were on the property because we were expecting babies and we were rather preoccupied. But the following February, I was astonished to see, quite suddenly, that the entire length of road leading to our house, as well as our own garden, was graced by a sea of white blossoms. It turns out that our neighborhood is home to hundreds of wild plum trees, which in our climate come into full bloom in late winter. Unlike the plum varieties that one finds in supermarkets, and even in farmers' markets, the wild plums that emerge from our blossoms are tiny, growing to just about the size of a cherry tomato. They are closest in form to some of the oldest European plum varieties, but becau
