Marjorie Seedling is widely available in UK supermarkets and is the main late-season commercial European plum. It is excellent for culinary purposes, and very good for eating fresh when fully ripe.
It is attractive to commercial growers because it is vigorous, hardy, disease resistant, and a reliable and heavy cropper. These qualities mean it is also ideal for the garden or small orchard - and by growing your own you can also get a far better flavour than is possible for the commercial grower - the trick is to leave the plums on the tree longer. And if you like fresh plums, there are not many other ones around this late in the season.
The fruit is large, plum-shaped, and purple, becoming blue-black when fully ripe, with a heavy bloom - overall very attractive. The flesh is greenish-yellow, juicy, quite coarse, and noticeably veined. The stone is clinging.
Horticultural characteristics of Marjorie's Seedling plum trees
Vigorous, hardy, highly disease resistant - easy to grow. Marjorie's Seedling flowers relatively late in the spring, so is a good choice for areas where frost is a problem, or for an east-facing situation.
Make sure you leave the fruit on the tree as long as possible to get the best flavour for eating fresh - very pleasant straight from the tree on a cold autumn morning!
Unlikely to be troubled by any of the usual plum diseases. As a late season plum it is possibly more at risk from attack by plum fruit moth caterpillars, which are active in some areas from June to August - these can be controlled with pheromone traps.
Recommended as an essential part of any small plum collection because of its reliability, versatility, and because it allows you to enjoy fresh plums quite late in the season.