I hear ya. We can possible trade in the future. I do have Moonglow and Orient but bloom at different times so pollination is an issue. This spring I grafted some Bartlett into the moonglow so I how to get some fruit next spring. Only concern is that Bartlett is fireblight prone. We will see.
I started keeping records of my different bloom times. My Orient bloomed well ahead of my Moonglow. Ayers bloomed pretty much at the same time as the Moonglow and it might be a viable option. My nearby neighbor has a Callery pear that blooms with my earlier blooming Orient. I also added grafts of Kieffer, Hood, and Seckel so I think my pollination down the road will be ok. On another note I share your pain with bagging but it has allowed me to grow good quality fruit organically. Bill
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I want to say for people who can’t grow the more fb prone Euro type pears because of fb pressure I really think Ayers is a really good pear. I thought it was nearly as good as Seckle. It only fruited for me once when I lived in Austin due to lack of chill but I think for people in areas that get good chill time it would be a great choice. I also loved the Abate Fetel and thought it was about as good a pear as any Ive had.
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I certainly agree with you. My Ayers pears this season were the best that has fruited in my orchard.
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I’ve read wonderful things about the abate fetel. It’s one of the fireblight prone pears that like forel keeps coming up. It is a curators choice pear http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/20721500/catalogs/pyrcult.html . The eloganted fruit , aroma, flavor make it a pear well known by conosouirs. Bosc is another we probably should never try to grow in my area but almost certainly will try. Magness and Ayers are reported by so many people to be good disease resistant choices. I feel like deciding to grow those fb resistant pears was a neccesity here . Getting so much good advice from this thread! Thank you
The wickson crabapple continues to come up so I got a scion. I’m surprised no one here mentioned it. Its rating is 5 out of 5 http://www.orangepippin.com/crab-apples/wickson-crab. The trees are obtainable for people who don’t enjoy grafting from here http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=146
Hello! For me, the first apple Kanz, then Sirius and Opal!
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Murky in your opinion is Comice the pear all other great pears are compared to? It seems like it is the true king of pears from many perspectives.
We have a friend who sends Harry and David fruit every year. Love that man!! Comice are aka as Royale Riviera from H&D. I find them to be overpowering sweet and somewhat too smooth. Bosc still is my favorite with forelle close for pears.
Had my first chestnut crab 2 yrs ago. I bought all they had at the farmers market and brought them into a family reunion at a Famous Dave’s BBQ. We finished 10# of apples and the BBQ went into to go boxes! Our wickson produced it’s first apple this year. Stunning intensity, so sweet, so acid. Kidd’s, Ashmead’s, and Karmijn should produce this year along with roxbury and golden russet. Can’t wait!
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Chikn you have great taste in fruit. You went down the list of many peoples reported favorites.
I’ve only had a few Comice. They can be really good. From the grocer, at least here, Taylor’s Gold are consistently excellent. It is a sport of Comice.
I may be in the camp that doesn’t consider “too smooth” and “too sweet” as an indictment, but I never try to eat more than one European pear in a day.
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That’s why they got planted,something to be said for anything that every one likes.[quote=“murky, post:43, topic:3457”]
“too smooth” and “too sweet” as an indictment,
[/quote]No indictment, just like a little texture and a smidge of acid to cut the sweet.
I guess that’s why we have so many varieties to choice from.
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Nowadays, in EU. Comice pear has a number of red colored variants. I am fond of. Taste is unbeatable.
For a number of years ago I found this curious appearance. I bought this red variant on a local market, it’s my favorite, this pear is a Sport from a Comice pear.
Bearing fruit having an overall reddisch skin and a light purplish tint. When the fruit is ripe it shows a mottled greenish-yellow undercoat. If it were a painters palette.
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Alcedo! that pear looks delicious. I wish I could dive right into the picture!
I cut mine down a decade ago. I might consider it again for the visual impact as an espalier. It is not exactly what I call a desert pear it is more of a dinner pear. By that I mean I find it worked best in a sandwich of a salad where it helped along some other foods. For example a couple of slices on a turkey, rye, lettuce, mayo and cheese sandwich is awesome. You are also talking one heck of large pear too. Like all pears they tend to ripen from the inside out so it is hard to tree ripen due to the size.
One nice thing is the squirrels and raccoons seem consider it a last resort so you will always have some if you have other pears around. Still and all there is nothing wrong with it.
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Murky,
Taylor’s gold is fairly disease resistant?
I don’t know. It’s a sport of Comice, so lacking other information, I’d start by assuming its similar.
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I will second that. My Ayers pears last season were the best pears I have had the privilege of eating. Sweet and smooth with no grit with some minor hints of Apple. They were great.
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Lots of great polinator info for pears in this thread 
Planting 2 Antonovka this spring…I was hoping to use as rootstock but then read favorable review of the apples, I am interested for the apples also.