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Luther Burbank, Plums, and CA Horticulture
Various varieties of plums.
Featured Author:
Cynthia Houng
Cynthia has lived in the Bay Area for far too long. She cooks in a vintage 1940s kitchen with 1970s-era “Harvest Gold” appliances. She likes to cook with herbs from her tiny kitchen “garden” – terracotta pots filled with interesting herbs – and has a curious passion for plants, botany, and horticulture.
When she isn’t cooking, eating, or browsing nurseries for interesting plants, she writes about food and other things. Read her thoughts on her blog, Hana no Mono, whose curious name derives from the Japanese words for “Flowers” and “Things.” The phrase roughly translates to the “Thingness” of flowers, or the properties of flowers. Find Cynthia at Berkeley Hort, looking for heirloom vegetables, spending time at the SFMOMA, or exploring the East Bay’s many markets. She has a soft spot for fruit trees and farms, and on weekends you can also find her in the Sierra foothills, exploring California’s agricultural heritage.
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Cynthia Houng | Chef's Blade
Imagine a plum. Heavy in the hand, when fresh, and full of juice. Imagine that purple-red skin and, beneath, that amber, slightly translucent flesh, sweet with a hint of acid.
You are, more likely than not, imagining one of Luther Burbank’s creations.
Luther Burbank was a talented horticulturalist who introduced over 700 varieties of fruits, vegetables, and ornamental plants to the market (click here to read a brief list of Burbank’s introductions). Many of his introductions, like the Santa Rosa plum, remain crucial to the California economy.
Some results of Luther Bubank drawings
Born on March 7, 1847, in Lancaster, Massachussetts, Burbank moved to Santa Rosa in 1875, where he established Gold Ridge Farm. From 1875 until his death in 1926, Burbank lived and worked in Santa Rosa. An exceptionally talented horticulturalist, Burbank found inspiration in Charles Darwin’s writings and believed strongly in empiricism and experimentation.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, California’s economy shifted towards a model of industrial agriculture, and “modern” hybrids, more suited to the grand scale and extended time frame of the industrial style, began replacing the old varietals. A glance at an 1871 list of fruit cultivars offered by Felix Gillet, a nursery located in Nevada City, California, reveals a sea change in growers’ attitudes and preferences. Most of the varieties offered at Gillet’s nursery were of European origin: Green Gage plums, 5 French varieties of peaches (Gross Mignonne, Early Purple, Nivette, Pavie de Pomponne, Red Madeleine), Queen Horteuse cherries from the Netherlands, to name some.
Jessica
9 months ago
150 comments
This is a great article! Thanks Cynthia! It's amazing how one can be creative with plants!
Analyn
9 months ago
236 comments
I love pluots! Also, Burbank's gardens in Santa Rosa are beautiful to visit! check it out: http://www.parks.sonoma.net/burbank.html I'm glad that we can still profit from a lot of his creative combinations here in California! A plum is most certainly not a plum.