Green Gage PlumGREEN GAGE

Prunus domestica. This ancient oval plum bred in France from the wild green fleshed Canerik plum of Greece and Turkey came to England in the early 18th century, imported by Sir William Gage of Bury St. Edmund's, England.  From thence they found their way to the British American colonies--to New York, Virginia and South Carolina particularly, where they vied with the Damson as the most widely planted European plum after the 1750s.  William Prince's nursery on Long Island featured this plum on its pre-Revolutionary period plant lists.  The Green Gage became the progenitor of a family of Gage varieites, the ancient patriarch of which was the Reine Claude (the French parent version), the Imperial Gage, the Jefferson, the Washington, the General Hand, the Golden Gage, and Peter's Gage.  Many of these varieties were seedling selections.  In the early cultivation of the Green Gage, orchards were planted from seed, not propagated by cuttings.  Still widely available.

Reine Claude de Bavay (the ancestral green gage): "A very vigorous grower, very productive, and a valuable addition to the late varieties. Branches smooth.  Fruit large, roundish, slightly depressed.  Skin greenish yellow, with stripes and splashes of green, covered with a thin bloom.  Suture medium. Apex dimpled. Stalk short and stout, set in a small cavity. Flesh yellow, juicy, melting, with a sugary, rich, excellent flavor.  Separates from the stone.  Best." [Charles Downing, Selected Fruits from Downing's Fruit Trees of America (1871), 593-94.]

The Imperial Gage, bred by the Prince Nursery in New York, because of its ample size became the standard market type in America in the 19th century.  "Size above medium; form oval; suture very distinct; colour pale green tinged with yellow, marbled with dull green strips; flesh greenish, juicy, melting, and rich, generally separating from the stone—not always so, appearing to bo affected by soil and climate; shoots slightly downy; of American origin, from a stone of the Green gage. It has long held a high position amongst the plums of that country. Tree hardy, and a great and regular bearer, and has the peculiarity of succeeding better on light soils than any other of the plum tribe. In strong soils Downing asserts that the fruit is often insipid" [Charles McIntosh, The Book of the Garden, 531].

Nurseries that offered versions of the Green Gage Plum prior to 1920:

Alabama Nursery, Huntsville AL; Bluegrass Nursery, Lexington KY; Booth Nursery, Baltimore MD; Cedar Cove Nursery, Salem NC; Cherokee Nursery, Waycross GA; Dixie's Garden, Chatanooga TN; Downer's Nursery, Fairview KY; Emporia Nursery, Emporia VA; Forked Deer Nursery, Curve TN; Forstcher Nursery, New Orleans LA; Frederick Nursery, Frederick MD; Fruitlands, Augusta GA; Garvin Nursery, Wheeling WV; Greensboro Nursery, Greensboro NC; Guilford Nurseries, Vandalia NC; Hale's Southern Fruit, Fort Valley GA; Hopewell Nursery, Fredericksburg VA; Kentucky Nursery, Louisville KY; Milford Nursery, Milford DE; Munson Nursery, Falls Church VA; Nanz & Neuner, Louisvile KY; Old Dominion Nursery, Richmond VA; Peachland, Seaford DE; Pomaria Nursery, Pomaria SC; Pomona Nursery, Mcclenny FL; Richmond Commercial Nursery, Richmond VA; Sinclair Nursery, Baltimore MD; Spring Hill Nursery, Prospect VA; Staunton Nursery, Staunton, VA; Van Lindley Nursery, Pomona, NCWa;ler Nurser, Louisville KY Wood Nursery, Richmond VA.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Royal Steadman, 1925?

David S. Shields