Cultivar 451: Rockford

Rockford is an Americana plum, described as a wild northern Iowa variety introduced by Charles G. Patten of Charles City, Iowa. [S2] [S3] South Dakota trial reports describe it as a productive prairie plum of high eating quality. It was especially remembered for its heavy blue bloom and for fruit said to come nearer a true blue plum than any other Americana. [S2] It was also counted among the station's choice native varieties for hardy planting on native plum roots. [S3]

South Dakota station records place Rockford in the old Station orchard planted in 1888, where it proved a very heavy and constant bearer. [S2] [S3] A later station orchard summary at Brookings again reported a very large crop and excellent quality, though the fruit was said to be smaller than Wolf or De Soto. [S3] A. Norby at Madison also recommended it as one of the very best medium early varieties. [S3] Not every observer agreed. H. C. Warner called it inferior, showing that its reputation was not uniform across growers. [S2]

The fruit was repeatedly described as rather small or undersized, especially when the tree overbore. [S2] [S3] Sources describe it as dark red under a heavy bluish bloom, with fine or excellent quality and a relatively large pit for the size of the plum. [S2] Norby reported that the fruit hung well on the tree and was free from pockets. [S2] [S3] Its season is placed at about August 28 to September 1, which fits its reputation as a medium early plum. [S2] [S3] One bulletin also states plainly that the fruit was too small for market. [S2]

The tree was described as hardy, but also as excessively productive and inclined to overbear, which helps explain the frequent complaints about small fruit. [S2] In Manitoba correspondence, it was listed among cultivars occasionally killed back from the top when one or two years old, so its hardiness had limits in colder northern exposure. [S2] Disease notes are mixed but specific. Norby called it very free from plum pocket, while another South Dakota description said rust or scab was confined to this variety and disfigured the fruit. Norby also noted it as the only scabby plum in his list, though the defect showed little when ripe. [S2] [S3]

Rockford belongs to the late nineteenth century group of hardy native and Americana plums that South Dakota growers were testing for long lived, fruitful orchard use on native plum roots. [S2] [S3] It was named alongside cultivars such as Wyant, De Soto, Wolf, Rollingstone, Stoddard, Hawkeye, and Forest Garden in this northern plum context. [S1] [S3] It also appears in a 1902 photographic plate of named plums, showing that it remained part of the station's documented cultivar set after its earlier orchard reports. [S2]

Rockford also appears in discussion of plum topworking on sand cherry stock, but that evidence concerns scions and stock performance rather than the cultivar's own origin or parentage. [S1] No direct parentage is given in the cited sources.

Summary source basis

• S1: The Western Sand Cherry
• S2: Plums in South Dakota
• S3: Fruit Culture

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Awild variety introduced by Charles G. Patten of Charles City, Iowa.”
— ^[1]

“The trees in that adverse note were later said to have been not on Sand Cherry roots at all, but misobserved.”
— ^[2]

“Fruit distinguished by the heavy blue bloom and excellent quality.”
— ^[1]

“The adverse note stated that some of the trees fruited in 1897 and all of them fruited in 1898.”
— ^[2]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• Rockford, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34
• Rockford, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34
• Rockford, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34
• Rockford, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context