Toka Plum: The Bubblegum Plum

The Bubblegum Plum, yes, it tastes like the essence of bubblegum. The Toka Plum is so sweet and candy-like that you can’t stop eating them. Beautiful bright red fruit with apricot-colored flesh, the Toka Plum is a delicious treat with a unique taste.

This plum tree has lots to offer the home orchardist. Not only is it sweet and tasty, but it is also a beautiful ornamental plant and the hardest-working pollination partner on the block. You will be thrilled to have this gorgeous and functional tree in your yard. As part of an ornamental landscape or a work-horse in the orchard, the Toka Plum Tree must be in your next tree order.

Looking to buy a Toka plum tree? Check availability. Here too.

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Facts About The Toka Plum Tree

Almost ubiquitous across the country, the Toka Plum Tree has a huge growing habitat across USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 8. It is a sturdy and extremely cold hardy fruit tree, the Toka is hardy down to a whopping minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The Toka Plum Tree reaches a mature height of 15 to 20 feet, a manageable size for any home gardener. The tree’s mature spread runs between 12 and 18 feet, but with its vase-like shape, the widest point of the distance is at the very top of the tree. It may take up much space but gives back so much more.  With its beautiful presence and ability to pollinate freely, you will be happy you planted a Toka Bubblegum Plum.

Like all plum trees, the Toka Plum loves full sun and a well-drained, composted soil. Mix your soil with nutritional compost to ensure good moisture retention with optimal drainage. When planted properly it will reward you with beautiful medium-sized purple red plums sporting a full flavored, pretty yellow/orange flesh. 

To ring in the arrival of spring, the Toka Plum Tree explodes with an abundance of fragrant white flowers. The visual impact of the bloom period is one of the characteristics that make the Toka Plum a standout ornamental tree. It is also what makes the Toka Plum such a good pollinator. Those sweet-scented blossoms attract all the best pollinators to your garden. While they are having a party in your Toka Plum Tree, they spread the wealth all over the plum neighborhood.

Once pollinated, the tree sets fruit which ripens to a pretty red orb. You will be checking them every day, dreaming of the day you can harvest these little gems and eat them fresh from the tree. Sometime in late August and into September, the fruits will ripen, and you can enjoy their sweet, bubblegum-like flavor.

Although this fruit is sweet and candy-like, the skin offers a tart finish. This slight tartness balances off the flavor profile with a final plum essence. The Toka Plum is a clingstone variety perfect for fresh eating, cooking, and preserving.

In the fall, you will enjoy Toka’s pretty burgundy leaves. Again, this showy plant will be the star of your ornamental garden or orchard while closing out the growing season in high style.

The Toka Plum Tree has it all. Beautiful ornamental showing and shape, gorgeous, fragrant blossoms, and delectable full-flavored fruit, and it’s super easy to grow. You need to add one of these trees to your home garden, it will be a surefire showstopper.

Plums, buy their nature, have a good disease resistance and are very pest resistant. They are the perfect fruit tree for a novice orchardist,

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History Of The Toka Plum Tree

The Toka Plum Tree is a hybrid cross between an American Plum and a Japanese Plum. Coming out of South Dakota, the Toka was introduced in the US in 1911 and has been gracing home gardens ever since.

With the wide growing range of zones 3-8, and the fun bubblegum flavor, the Toka Plum Tree has been a fan favorite since it was first introduced. 

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Pollination And The Toka Plum Tree

This plant loves to pollinate! The Toka Plum Tree burst forth with a riot of showy white blooms. These beautiful spring flowers produce copious amounts of pollen to share with all your other plum trees. It is a prolific pollinator and will happily attract the neighborhood bees and butterflies to cross pollinate with Japanese, American, and hybrid plums in your home orchard.

The Toka Plum is a giving tree! It gives you lots and lots of fruit on your other orchard plums. Excellent pollinator for American, Japanese and hybrid plums, the Toka Plum is self fertile. If you can only plant one plum tree, this should be high on your list of considerations.

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Trees The Toka Plum Plays Nice With

When you consider all the different types of plum trees you have in your home garden or the ones on your wish list to order, You will be delighted with Toka’s prolific pollination capabilities.

Some Japanese plum trees Toka can help cross-pollinate include Shiro Japanese Plum Tree and the Superior Plum Tree.  The American Plum Tree will also benefit from having the Toka Plum Tree as a garden neighbor.  

Beautifully ornamental and bearing sweet, juicy fruit, the Toka Plum Tree is a standout pollination partner in your plum tree orchard. It is the perfect plum tree. 

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Bubblegum Jam And Canning Guidelines

Well, it’s actually plum jam but made with these sweet little bubblegum flavored gems, your PB&J will never be the same. Natasha’s Kitchen has a quick and easy two-ingredient plum jam recipe that requires no pectin. The best bonus, you do not have to peel your plums. A cross between a plum jam and plum preserves, the finished product has little chunks of jammy goodness that just burst with flavor. Quick to make, and a joy to eat, this jam recipe will be your new go to kitchen treat.

Imagine reaching into your pantry and selecting your very own, hand made Toka Plum jam. Living off the land never tasted so good. Need a hostess gift, grab one of your specialty jams, wrap it with a pretty bow, and you are a shining star. There is no excuse, you too can wrangle in your abundant plum harvest into this delicious jam.

Natasha will even walk you through the canning process. Although it is not difficult, canning can be a bit of a project. You need to set aside an afternoon to get through the multiple step preserving process. It is well worth the effort when you consider how much fruit you can put up. It will surely cover your sweet plummy desires until the next autumn harvest. You don’t need to sink a hefty investment into the canning process. A starter kit will have you pretty much everything you need to give preserving a try. Add some classic mason jars to the mix, and you are on your way to becoming a homesteading hero. 

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Where to Buy Your Toka Plum Tree

Toka Plum Trees are available for shipping for your select planting time. Check the following online nurseries for availability:

• Stark Bro’s
• Nature Hills Nursery
• CKK Products

Adding a Toka Plum Tree to your home orchard will add a willing pollination partner that will increase the yield of your other plums. You will enjoy a bumper crop from your plum trees and have very happy bees. 

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Wrapping up the Toka Plum

We are happy to bring you up-to-date information about the latest fruit trees, recipes, growing tips, and more. Our large selection of Plum Tree and Apple Tree reviews are here to help you make the best fruit tree planting decision for your home garden. You can read about their attributes, growing habits, and harvest yields while considering your purchases in the comfort of your own home. 

Excited for more plum content? Then check out our plum trees page for the latest growing tips, care guides, recipes, and more! Happy Gardening!