Cultivar 452: Rollingstone

Rollingstone is an Americana plum found on the banks of Rollingstone Creek in Winona County, southeastern Minnesota, by O. M. Lord of Minnesota City. He introduced it about 1882.[S2] South Dakota sources describe it as a hardy northern native plum, valued less for novelty than for steady orchard performance where many tender sorts failed.[S2][S3]

Station records from Brookings and the old South Dakota Station orchard describe Rollingstone as very hardy, productive, and able to bear very large crops.[S2][S3] Sources repeatedly praise the fruit quality. They call it excellent, but also note that the fruit tends to be small in heavy crop years and is smaller than DeSoto.[S2][S3] Plates of the 1902 and 1904 crops show it among the named native plums under comparison and preserve a visual record of the fruit from that period.[S2]

Rollingstone also appears as a practical orchard plum in regional recommendation lists. South Dakota writers included it among their choice native varieties. One source says that when such plums are budded or grafted on hardy northern native plum stock, they make long lived, hardy, fruitful trees.[S3] A 1904 Minnesota State Horticultural Society list also recommended Rollingstone for general cultivation in Minnesota.[S2]

The record on tree habit is mixed because some observations describe the cultivar on different root systems. On Sand Cherry stock in southeastern Minnesota, Rollingstone was reported to grow very well and seemed likely to make a good crop before it had borne.[S1] In a South Dakota trial on Sand Cherry roots, however, the trees were all alive but had not sprouted or grown as strongly as plums on their own roots.[S1] These reports make Rollingstone useful not only as a cultivar, but also as part of the early prairie experiment with dwarfing and alternative plum stocks.[S1]

Its hardiness is the clearest point in the record. South Dakota orchard reports call it very hardy. Another grower says it is hardy and will grow in any location. Manitoba correspondence places it among the named plums being tested in a colder northern setting.[S2][S3] The Manitoba note is less clear about its exact winter performance there, but the broader evidence places Rollingstone firmly in the hardy Upper Midwest and prairie plum tradition.[S2]

Rollingstone is presented here as a Minnesota native Americana plum, not as a bred cross with documented parentage.[S2] No direct parentage is given in the sources used here. What remains is a clear picture of a local plum that took its name from place, entered cultivation early, and stayed worth recommending because it combined hardiness, productivity, and good fruit quality.[S2][S3]

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 3 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Found on the banks of Rollingstone Creek, Winona county, southeastern Minnesota, by O. M. Lord of Minnesota City, and introduced by him about 1882.”
— ^[1]

“Mr. Stobbs reported that the plums on Sand Cherry roots were all living.”
— ^[3]

“It has proven very hardy.”
— ^[1]

“The fruit is of excellent quality.”
— ^[1]

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

• Rollingstone 12 Late P. americanaPollination Studies with Stone Fruits, p4
• Rollingstone 12 Late P. americanaPollination Studies with Stone Fruits, p4
• Rollingstone, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34
• Rollingstone, Americana.Plums in South Dakota, p34

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context