Cultivar 149: Fiebing

Fiebing is a hardy plum hybrid. Prairie sources describe it as a large, dark red fruit with yellow flesh and very good quality.[S2] [S3] Its recorded parentage is 'Kaga' x 'Wickson'. This places it among the complex northern plum hybrids that moved between Minnesota breeding work and prairie orchard testing.[S2] [S3]

Sources place its origin in Minnesota and credit the cross to Charles Haralson or Charles Harrison.[S2] [S3] Sources agree on the parentage and the northern breeding context.[S2] [S3] By 1946, it was established enough to be listed among plums and hybrids described for prairie orchards.[S3]

The fruit is described as large, roundish, and somewhat irregular, with dark red skin and a prominent suture.[S3] The flesh is yellow, firm, fine, juicy, sweet, and aromatic. The bulletin rates its quality as very good.[S3] Season is early September.[S3] No storage notes appear in the sources used here.[S3]

The tree is described as spreading, vigorous, and productive.[S3] Hardiness is supported more by geography and recommendation history than by a direct zone statement. Fiebing was included in prairie orchard notes and was listed for trial in South Dakota Zone II and Zone III home fruit recommendations, including the northern two thirds of the state.[S1] [S3] This places it in the cold climate plum tradition of the northern Great Plains, not as only a local or sheltered garden sort.[S1] [S3]

Fiebing matters in the archive as one of the Minnesota plum hybrids built from important hardy parent material.[S1] [S2] 'Kaga' and 'Wickson' connect it to the long effort to combine larger, better dessert quality fruit with enough vigor and adaptation for northern conditions.[S2] [S3] The surviving descriptions suggest a cultivar remembered less for novelty than for being a productive, good quality early September plum suited to prairie testing and trial plantings.[S1] [S3]

Summary source basis

• S1: South Dakota Fruit Garden
• S2: An index of fruit cultivars tested or developed on the Canadian prairies.
• S3: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ

This summary currently draws chiefly from TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Fruit large, roundish, irregular, dark red with prominent suture; flesh yellow, firm, fine, juicy, sweet, aromatic; quality very good; season early September.”
— ^[5]

“Aplum or hybrid at number 20 appears as 'Fiebing' in OCR support.”
— ^[5]

“Listed for trial under Plums, Minnesota hybrids in Zone II and Zone III.”
— ^[3]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• Origin listed as 'Kaga' x 'Wickson' (complex hybrid).
• Raised by Charles Harrison in Minnesota from Kaga x Wickson.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• PLUMS, Minn. Hybrids | For Trial | ZONE III All Rest and Northern two-thirds of State | FiebingSouth Dakota Fruit Garden (visual sample pages 9-11), p1
• PLUMS, Minn. Hybrids | For Trial | ZONE III All Rest and Northern two-thirds of State | FiebingSouth Dakota Fruit Garden (visual sample pages 9-11), p1
• PLUMS, Minn. Hybrids | For Trial | ZONE III All Rest and Northern two-thirds of State | FiebingSouth Dakota Fruit Garden (visual sample pages 9-11), p1
• PLUMS, Minn. Hybrids | For Trial | ZONE III All Rest and Northern two-thirds of State | FiebingSouth Dakota Fruit Garden (visual sample pages 9-11), p1

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context