A Gallery of Great Pears for the Home Orchard

Seasonal Planting Guide

It’s bare root season, which means you can save money on fruit trees by planting them now. A wide selection is still available. Start an asparagus bed so you can enjoy their young, tender shoots straight from the garden. Artichokes can be planted now from dormant roots. By next spring, you’ll be harvesting your own delicious buds. Plant strawberry plants now for delicious strawberry shortcake this summer. Pansies will brighten your flower beds with their happy faces and bloom all through the spring.

Great Pears for the Home Orchard

Pear trees produce generous crops of delicious fruit and make handsome landscape trees with their glossy leaves and white blossoms. They are long-lived trees and one of the easiest fruits to grow in this area. There are many tasty varieties to choose from that will give you fresh fruit over a long season.

Early Season Pears

• Bartlett – The earliest pear in this area. It is the thin-skinned yellow fruit familiar in the market in late summer. Perfect for canning and excellent for drying, they are sweet, juicy, and delicious for fresh eating.
• Magness – Ripens a week or two after Bartlett. This soft, sweet, juicy dessert pear is almost free of grit cells. The greenish-yellow fruit develops a red or russeted blush. Magness is very disease resistant, especially to fire blight, but requires a pollinator.
• Warren – Similar to Magness, it is an excellent quality dessert pear with no grit cells and a superb, buttery flavor. It is self-fruitful and a good keeper.
• Seckel – The smallest of the commonly grown pears and also the sweetest. Small enough to be canned whole, they are also delicious fresh.

Midseason Pears

• D’Anjou – A large, green pear that is firm but not especially juicy. Sweet and mild-flavored, it makes delicious pear pies and is an excellent keeper.
• Red Anjou – Nearly identical to the original D’Anjou, except for its deep maroon color.
• Bosc – Has a long, narrow shape with heavily russeted skin. The flesh is crisp and fragrant with a distinct flavor. Baked or poached, it is one of the best.

Late Season Pears

• Comice – Green and often with a red blush, these are the favorite of many for eating fresh and as a dessert pear. Too juicy for cooking, but the very best for fresh eating, and a favorite in holiday gift boxes. They are very soft when ripe and creamy in texture.
• Winter Nelis – The latest pear, quite small with yellow-green skin, but has a juicy, sweet, rich flavor. Very good eaten fresh and also fine for baking.

Planting and Care Tips

• Pears need pollination to bear a good crop. Plant two or more different trees within 100 feet of each other for better fruit production. If space is limited, plant a tree grafted with three or four varieties or do your own grafting.
• Most varieties start bearing significant harvests 5 to 6 years after planting.
• Choose a site with full sun, moderately fertile soil, and good air circulation. Pears thrive in many different soil types.
• Space trees on OHx333 rootstock 15 feet apart.
• Fertilize lightly early in the year; heavy nitrogen doses increase vulnerability to fire blight.
• With proper pruning and care, pear trees live for many years and provide abundant fruit annually.