Hi Randall, you wrote:

What do ya'll know about the "thundercloud" purple leaf plum? Anyone have
any experience with this cultivar in particular, or the purple leaf plums in
general?

If you want a purple-leaf plum specifically, you might look into
Prunus x cistena, aka purple leaf sand cherry (tho also sometimes
called purple leaf plum). It's a small tree or large shrub, quite
suitable for bonsai training. Tends to grow rather as a broom
naturally, not an inspiring shape, but lots of growth to choose from.
Unlike P. cerasifera, it's long lived and sturdy - I've seen them
growing as parking-lot trees in Denver Colorado, dry summers and cold
winters (USDA zone 5).

I have 2 smallish ones, still in nursery pots. They do tend to die
back if I prune a non-vigorous branch, but the strong branches can be
pruned back to no leaves and send out several stong shoots to work
with. Craig has a large b&b specimen from this year with nice potential.

They're easily available in nurseries, tho I know it's not as cheap as
air-layering your yard-tree

Anita
-----
Northern Harford County, Maryland, USDA zone 6
"I am not bound for any public place, but for ground of my own where I
have planted vines and orchard trees, and in the heat of the day
climbed up into the healing shadow of the woods. Better than any
argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup."
~Wendell Berry

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