What do you think of summer blood birne?
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No fruit yet on Summer Blood Birne so no real opinion. I grafted 3 trees and gave one to a friend who makes metheglin which is a fermented honey/pear juice blend. One of the grafted trees is a larger tree with a grafted branch. It should produce fruit next spring.
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Beautiful!
I got rid of most of my Euro pears. I only kept a Maxine. I got lots of Asian pears. They are more to my liking. Still, it is nice having a Euro pear once in a while. Asians must have sex with Maxine. If I had more land, I’d replant a few Euro pears. But I’m limited to +/- 46 trees that I can squeeze in here. If the neighbor’s trees blow down, then I could plant a half dozen more trees.
Side note…
I just picked my last August Lady peach. Crazy they go into mid-September.
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I’d like any available info on Dempsey pear. It looks like a cold hardy variety that ripens in October? Anybody know anything else?
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Like you i dont know much about it. It is very late ripening and it has good genetics.
-50°F. Yellow-green with brown cheek. Ripens in late October.
Discovered inTrenton, Prince Edward County, Canada, by Mr. P. C. Dempsey. It is described in the 1897 edition of“Fruits of Ontario” as having flesh that is “…white, fine grained, tender, almost melting…”.
Bartlett x duchess d’angoulme
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@clarkinks, since you are soliciting questions and may well be the most knowledgeable person out there when it comes to pear varieties. If I wanted to plant 10-12 pears along a driveway, what would you recommend for a long season of fresh pears + at least one with potential to be stored into the winter? They will also need to have decent disease resistance as I am in southern VA with hot, humid summers. I am planning to plant these on beautifolia rootstock unless you have a better suggestion for a full size pear.
Right now I have a list of about 18 contenders I’m trying to whittle down. Unfortunately the more I research the list gets longer instead of shorter. I can see how you ended up with all the varieties. 
I am pretty sure I want Potomac, Harrow delight, Harrow Sweet, and Dripping Honey. Your small yellow also has peaked my interest, if I can acquire scion.
I already have Korean Giant, Ayer’s and Kieffer on quince that I can take scion from, but don’t necessarily want to include them just because they are handy. I am going to already have one each on quince at a different location. I also have access to an early July pear and an early September pear that I don’t have names for, but they have survived and been productive in my area with little to no care. If they don’t make the cut I’ll probably at least put a few of those in a fence row somewhere just because they are proven.
What would your recommendation for 10-12 varieties look like?
Thanks!
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I would plant
potomac
Harrow sweet
Ayers
Maxine
Harrow delight
Warren
Duchess d’angoulme
Karls favorite
Drippin honey
Korean giant
Pick one if you need extras they are delicious
Large seckle
Worden seckle
Seckle
Early seckle
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I suggest looking at Ambrosia, Bell, and Beurre Alexandre Lucas.
Spalding might be worth considering for the time slot it ripens which is about the 6th of August through the end of the month. They are a juicy moderately sweet large yellow pear. Most of the better flavored fireblight resistant varieties mature later. Spalding has been moderately resistant to fireblight so far for me.
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Thank you sir. I appreciate your insight! I’ll be using those as the base for my list!
Now @Fusion_power is already trying to throw some extras in there though. I’m beginning to think this planting will end up outgrowing its original design. Sometimes I think this forum is a bad place for people who have a natural tendency to want to plant too much. Y’all encourage bad habits. 
In all seriousness I appreciate the insights. I probably will try to find somewhere to stick a few of the “extra” suggestions. I know a lot of it will come down to how well each variety adapts to my environment. It never hurts to have a few extra varieties on a fencerow somewhere just in case they turn out to be a top performer for me.
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The majority of people will love large seckle it is a must have. it has been a consistent favorite. The clarks small yellow is a great pear but it wont keep and it goes from ripe to rot quickly. In areas where fireblight is a big issue that pear of mine is gold. It is a harder pear to grow but a favorite on its best years.
My problem with it is fireblight. Many speculate joeys ted flesh may be the same pear. I grafted 20 sticks and by the time 3 years passed 19 were dead from fireblight.
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Absolutely! I see seedlings all the time. I never intentionally cultivate pear seedlings now but i dont remove any seedlings either.
You can use dormant scions from winter like Ukie said which is preferred. Sometimes i use non dormant scions because in warmer climates they never go fully dormant. Either method works fine. Non dormant scions you have to work fast to graft them. Non dormant scions they just pull all the leaves off and send them in the mail.
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@Josh6b @Fusion_power @Phlogopite another thing i wanted to point out was at the time many said my biggest failure was clarks crabapple i created for 2 reasons 1. Size is to small 2. It is not red. Let me just say people love it . If you want to grow pears from seed be prepared for new genetics. Duchess D’ angoulme is used frequently in crosses like kieffer. There are dozens of crosses and hundreds of third generation hybrid crosses.
Before i say one more word i.need to bring up Van Mons the best pear breeder of all time. His work has never been matched. His pears are still in stores to this day
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Clark, may I point out that this does not include an extremely early ripening pear such as Pineapple? The earliest in your list looks like Harrow Delight. Also, it leans heavily toward fresh eating pears with very little in the way of late maturing storage pears. I have Lucky’s “Very Late” pear which is currently my latest ripening variety. I’m sure there are others more suited for late maturity and winter storage.
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For texture: whats the crispist and firmest european and asian pear variety? Love the flavor but i cannnnnot get through the texture and how soft they are.
Zone 7a/b if it matters. Long growing season (early april to mid nov)
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If you like crisp almost crunchy pears, Shinko and Korean Golden are in the ballpark. As with most Asian pears, they tend to be sweet, juicy, but lower flavor intensity.
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Any idea on the chill hours needed for Lucky’s late pear? I’m looking for a late type that will fruit in the 400 chill hours range.
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It is fruiting very well for me here at the bottom edge of Tennessee. I’m growing several pears that have 300 to 400 chill hour requirements. None of them have shown adaptation issues so far.
Thanks for all the helpful information!
What are your thoughts on the best disease resistant pears for zone 5? Earlier ripening always great as we have already had frost here.
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