Harrow Delight
This pear is bred for fire blight resistance. It also has great scab resistance, but it is susceptible to pear psylla and moderately susceptible to pseudomonas. Extremely cold hardy, Harrow Delight will do well as low as zone 4. The tree is consistently productive, and fruit will need to be thinned for optimal size. Harrow Delight has demonstrated pollen compatibility with Bosc, Bartlett, Anjou, and Harvest Queen. Harvested about two weeks before Bartlett, this pear is greenish yellow with a red blush. The fruit should be picked while still green, as it has a strong tendency to drop as it ripens. Shelf life is also greatly reduced if the fruit is allowed to mature on the tree. These pears have excellent flavor. The pears are small but with an intense, complex flavor and smooth texture. Harrow Delight was developed by the disease-resistant breeding program that was begun by Dr. R.E.C. Layne in 1962 at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Research Centre at Ontario Canada.
Atlantic Queen
The Atlantic Queen pear is a unique old French cultivar. The tree is prolific and tolerant of adverse conditions, with resistance to fire blight. The very large (as large as to 1 ? lb) fruit has yellow-green skin covering a melting, juicy, aromatic flesh. The trees can reach a height of 25 feet or more and grow in any fertile, well-drained soil, in full sun. They have strong vertical branches and require little pruning. The fruit grows on long-lived spurs and is spherical to typically pear-shaped. It should never be allowed to ripen on the tree. The ripening process is completed in storage where the pears will ripen more evenly. It ripens in September. It has done well in maritime climates as well as those with hot summers. It needs a pollenizer.
White Doyenne
The White Doyenne pear tree produces one of the best autumn pears you will ever taste. This fine grained, buttery French pear has a long and storied history throughout the States and Europe which speaks to its unquestioned popularity throughout the centuries. White Doyenne pears are small to medium pears with roundish shape. Pale yellow russeted skin with a small bright red blush on the exposed cheek. Flesh is juicy and sweet with a rich aromatic flavor and melting texture when fully ripe. The White Doyenne pear tree is a world-renowned fruit tree that came from France via Italy where it was first described in 1550 as the old Romanpear, Sementinum. It is the favorite variety of noted California chef Alice Waters. It grows well in our region.
Clapp’s Favorite
As history has it, pears were once grown in abundance in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and it just so happens the Clapps Favorite Pear was developed there! Among the founding families of Dorchester, the Clapps originally sailed in from England in 1630. During the 1800s, a Clapp farming family began experimenting with new types of fruit trees, and successfully cross-bred a Bartlett tree with a Flemish Beauty tree to create a new variety of pear which was aptly named Clapps Favorite. Today, a 12-foot bronze sculpture of a Clapps Favorite Pear stands in Dorchester Square on the land that was once farmed by the Clapp family. Clapp’s Favorite is medium to large in size and I oblong in shape with a large bulbous base that slightly tapers to a small, rounded neck. The thin skin is smooth with a golden yellow base and is covered in prominent lenticels and patches of red blushing connecting to a long, light brown stem. The soft flesh is cream-colored to ivory and is moist, fine-grained, and encases a central core with small black-brown seeds. When ripe, Clapp’s Favorite pear is crisp, aromatic, and juicy with a mild, sweet flavor balanced with a little acidity. We have very productive varieties with sweet fruit. They have a woody texture and are prized for cooking, jelly making. They were a favorite in pioneer gardens in the early 20th century. American pioneers had tart varieties. Luther Burbank bred new varieties like Pineapple about 1900. Native to the Black Sea region of Turkey and the former Soviet Union, we now have varieties from that region with sweeter fruit. However they all still have the woody quince texture of their flesh.
