• Mystery Chum, Sapa Chum
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Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Sapa Chum

Sapa Chum

Species: Prunus pumila var. besseyi (Western sandcherry) x P. salicina (Japanese Plum)

History: Sapa (translated as 'black' from Lakota) was developed at the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station in the US by renowned plant breeder N. E. Hansen and released in 1908. His goal was to create plants hardy enough to grow in the harsh, northern prairies and was one of the first people to start breeding chums. Hansen had a tendency to name his native plant crosses after words from indigenous cultures of the area, choosing the Lakota word for 'black' in this case due to the dark colour of the fruit. 

Why We Grow It: This small, hardy shrub produces purplish fruit with mauve flesh that has a sweet flavour with some tartness. It is good for fresh eating along with a variety of other uses such as cooking, baking, and preserving. It is also quite productive and tends to start bearing fruit at a young age! 

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, baking, preserving, wine

Fruit Size: Small

Storage: Keeps about a week in the fridge.

Harvest: August - Mid

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 2

Soil Preference: Sandy loam and loam, like plenty of organic material. Prefers average to moist conditions with well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.

Flowering Time:

Bloom Colour: White

Pollination Requirements: Requires a pollinator of a different chum variety or western sandcherry that blooms around the same time

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

General Growth Habits:

Shrub reaches 2.5m tall, very productive and starts bearing fruit at a young age. Hardy and generally resistant to disease.

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Our stone fruit hybrids are divided into the following grades:

  • 1 year plant - 15-45cm
  • 2 year plant - 30-70cm

    All of these heights exclude the roots since some plants will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

    Not all of our plants will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 

    Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

    Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

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