Green Gage Plum
Prunus domestica ‘claudiana’
The Green Gage has long been a highly prized fruit, for its hardiness -- it was one of the few of Jefferson's transplanted European fruits that survived well -- and for its juicy flesh and candy-sweet flavor.
Green Gage plum was the most intensively documented variety of the 170 fruit varieties grown at Monticello. On March 31, 1773, Jefferson recorded sending slips of it to Monticello along with eleven other species of trees. In 1783, he had twenty-one of these trees planted in the South Orchard. The Green Gage has long been a highly prized fruit, for its hardiness -- it was one of the few of Jefferson's transplanted European fruits that survived well -- and for its juicy flesh and candy-sweet flavor.
Adapted from The Fruit and Fruit Trees of Monticello by Peter J. Hatch.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
