pears

PEAR TREES

We are proud to offer a good selection of pear varieties for northern climates like ours, where the standard commercial varieties will not survive.

Marked varieties (+) are St. Lawrence Nurseries introductions, either found by us or brought to our attention by other sharp-eyed plantspeople.

Use the pear table below to choose individual pear varieties, or take advantage of our special price pear package. For more information about pear trees, such as rootstock, hardiness, spacing and pollination, scroll down past the pear table.

Price — 2 to 4 ft. trees $20.00 each

Special Price Pear Package — 4 pear trees: 1 each of Clark, John, Summercrisp, Tyson — $64

* indicates old variety


Variety	Hardiness	Ripens	Description
Ayers OUT OF STOCK	E-V	Early Sept.	Medium size fruit, very flavorful and sweet. An Anjou cross that grows well in Danville, VT. Skin is rose-tinted, somewhat russeted. Tree shape quite columnar. Resistant to fireblight.
Beierschmidt	V	Mid Sept.	Originated in Iowa, a seedling of Barlett but considerably hardier. Fruit long-necked, medium size, yellow, thin-skinned, and extremely tender and melting. Fruit flavor and quality of the very best, with no grit cells.
Beurre Gifford* OUT OF STOCK	V-M	Early August	A large (up to 2.5 inch) pear with crisp, tender, melting and juicy flesh. Very high quality for fresh eating. Should be picked when under-ripe and ripened inside. Precocious, early-fruiting.
Cabot	E	September	Medium size fruit. Extremely winter hardy. Flesh is melting, sweet, aromatic and good for fresh eating.
Clark+	E	Early Sept.	Fruit is small, good for canning, fair quality eating when ripe. Ripens all at once; not a keeper. Tree vigorous, fireblight and scab resistant.
Golden Spice supply limited--order before Mar 1	E	September	Good pollinator. Vigorous grower. Sweet and aromatic. Good for eating fresh when ripe and for home processing. Not a keeper.
Herman Last+	V	Mid Sept.	Medium to large-size fruit ripens on the tree. Good for eating and cooking. Resistant to fireblight.
Hudar+	E-V	Late July, Early Aug.	Early and productive, one of our best eating pears; also good for canning. Yellow with sweet, juicy flesh. Size a bit smaller than Bartlett.
John	E	September	A Pyrus ussuriensis/P.communis ussuriensis cross, John is very hardy and fireblight resistant, but is fair to poor for eating...tart, but not astringent. Better if grown in the far north and eaten when perfectly ripe.
Jubilee	E	September	Small to medium size fruit. Very hardy and fireblight resistant. A Pyrus ussuriensis/P.communis ussuriensis cross. Good for canning, and fresh eating when ripe. Does not keep.
Leonard	V	Late Sept.	A medium-size, hard, green pear which ripens yellow to a smooth, melting, flavorful fruit. Brought to our attention by Clarke Nattress.
Luscious supply limited--order before Feb 15	V	Mid to late Sept.	Large, very juicy, sweet and firm yet melting pear. Ripens in storage 7-10 days after harvest and remains excellent for fresh eating for about 2 weeks. A South Dakota E31 X Ewart cross, Luscious has proven hardy in many northern states.
Manning-Miller	V	Early to mid Sept.	Firm flesh is sweet when green or ripe. Texture is a bit coarse, but pleasant; stands up well to processing. Tree grows strongly and yields abundant crops. Self-fertile.
Chazy River+ (formerly Mooers)	V	Early to mid Sept.	The parent tree is a seedling growing in Mooers, NY. It is probably about 200 years old. Fruit is small-medium size, good for fresh eating and canning. Precocious bearer. Thinning will increase fruit size. Self-fertile.
Nova+	V	Mid Sept.	One of our best pears, named after our daughter, Nova. Large, round, melting and juicy. Can be used green or ripe. Hangs well without premature drop. Precocious and self-fertile.
Patten	E	Late Sept.	Very large fruit with excellent eating quality...one of the latest-ripening pears. Should be picked about 1 week before ripe and then allowed to ripen in cool storage.
Pepi	E	September	Fruit small, good for canning. Like other P.ussuriensis crosses, it is very cold hardy and immune to fireblight, but lacks the eating quality of European pears.
Savignac+	V	Sept.	Very sweet juicy pear with few grit cells. Originated near Quebec City, Canada, in a very cold area. Brought to our attention by Henri Bernard.
Southworth+	V	Mid-late Sept.	Good-flavored, Bartlett-sized sweet pear with juicy flesh that is firm becoming melting. Self-fertile. Tree is a strong, vigorous grower. Originated in Northern NY.
Stacey+	E-V	Mid-August	A profuse producer with medium size fruit. Should be picked in mid-August before fully ripe then allowed to ripen in a cool storage space. The original tree is at least 250 years old and is growing near Stacyville, ME. Very vigorous grower...the sturdiest pear in the orchard. Brought to our attention by Clarke Nattress.
Summercrisp	V	Mid Aug.	Introduced by the Univ. of Minnesota. This pear can be eaten green as a crisp juicy fruit similar to the Asian pears. When ripe it is sweet and fine-textured. Tree vigorous and a good pollinator for other pears. Our second earliest pear.
Tyson*	M	Early Sept.	Known since 1794, Tyson is a medium-sized conical pear. Fruit quality very high, especially for fresh eating. Keeps only a short time in storage. Tree is large, vigorous and productive.
Waterville	V	Sept.	Large and juicy with a slightly coarse but very sweet flesh. The tree is an extremely vigorous grower. Originated in Waterville, VT. Brought to our attention by David Fried.

Rootstock

The rootstocks we use for our pear varieties are Pyrus communis (for European-type pears) and Pyrus ussuriensis (for ussuriensis crosses). These are hardy and vigorous growers which produces a ``standard'' or full size tree.

Spacing

Plant pear trees about 20 feet apart.

Hardiness

E — Extremely hardy, to -50^oF or colder.
V — Very hardy, to -50^o F with occasional winter injury.
M — Moderately hardy, to -40^o F with occasional injury.
P — Hardy only to -30^oor -40^o F. May need protection.

Pollination

Most pear varieties need to be cross-pollinated by a different variety in order to produce bountiful crops, although a few are self-fruitful. To be safe, unless otherwise noted in the description, it's best to order at least 2 different varieties of pears to insure good pollination.

Approximate age of bearing

A pear tree from our nursery, if planted in good soil and maintained adequately by its new owner (rabbit protection, mulching with manure, attention to pests), should yield its first fruits in 3-5 years.