The tree from stark bros fruited sin 2010 at 13 years old. The graft on Callery has not flowered yet.
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Maxine is truly worth growing. I bought one of my siblings one of these from @39thparallel this year. I graft my own trees but buy for friends and relatives.
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Is Maxine a crunchy or melting pear… or able to be eaten both ways? 
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Been a long time (though I have a graft that possibly fruits next spring) but as I recall it is melting.
In fact, Monday August 22, 1981 in Murfreesboro TN I picked this pear from a tree and it to this day is the best pear I’ve eaten.
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It’s soft when it’s ripe but like all pears you can eat it firm if you like. When I say it softens its not a melting pear in my opinion. It’s soft enough but it’s more the flavor rather than texture that makes Maxine so good.
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Scion wood from a healthy tree fruits faster. The Maxine I grow are on callery rootstock and produced very quickly. Neighbors came over many times in disbelief when they had no pear crop and my pears were loaded. Prefer wild rootstocks myself but they are very difficult to work with. Why do you think I want many of my rootstocks to be genetically diverse? Do you think they influence the scions and ultimately the fruit? One gentleman went so far as to say that is wet clay it’s impossible to grow fruit trees there how are you doing it? Everyone wants to kill callery pears but they are one of our most valuable resources. When we had received only 10 inches of rain one year during bloom and fruit set my pears still produced a crop that year. The pears were half normal size that year but callery is genetically superior to any other pear rootstock with the exception of BET. Most years ohxf they are great rootstocks. That’s what my neighbors have on their purchased pears. On a drought year or some other challenging event callery prove themselves. Did an experiment with wild callery from a very wet area planting them in some of my worst soil with no ammendments. @39thparallel and I both did the experiment planting those callery where nothing else would grow on his property and mine. They grew slowly on my property demonstrating the very poor soil and constant wet conditions. The pears planted years ago do better every year. Some day as people are forced to live in marginal areas like desert or swampy areas they will understand what I mean about the value of genetically diverse callery. Some day I suspect the wild pears will produce a crop in those areas of mine. Maxine is growing in an old chicken yard on callery and it’s so healthy I can’t imagine it ever slowing down. The pears are very delicious.
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It wasn’t till I joined this group that I found out there were others grafting to Callery. I have a firm Asian , a Turnbul giant and a Maxine on Callery rootstock.
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Yes many of us used them much longer than we said. Back in the days of gardenweb I told people I was grafting to callery but everyone still wanted to eradicate them. Any time I brought it up it did not go over the best.
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Clark, so true. The Maxine scion you gave to me (thanks)grows very well and I am very happy with the flavor and texture of the fruits. I know you use callery pear for root stock and have many years of success, good for you. I have not yet tried that. One of my Asian pear tree was bought from Miller and I believe itv was grafted on an European pear root stock. Another was seeding Asian pear. The dripping honey I bought from Gurney and I don’t know what root stock it was used at Gurney. The dripping honey gets least fireblight issue and the seedlings tree gets most fire blight , I must have copper sprayed every year.
I read your other threads that you said the callery pear is more fireblight resistance which is a great plus. If I come across callery seedlings I’d like to try to see how well it performs here. In general, the pears do well in my area.
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Chances are you can visit any side of the Interstate…(90?94?)
…and find callery seedling all over the place. 
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don’t forget I-75,I-71, I-40, i-70, I-77, I-79, I-64, I-65, I-80, I-94, i57, i55, i-etc, i-etc, and so on
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Now that you mentioned the I’s don’t forget the H’s! The way the system works Routes with odd numbers run north and south, while even numbered run east and west. " Corridor H is also part of the Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) which was created by Congress in the Appalachian Development Act of 1965. It’s purpose is to create new economic opportunities in previously isolated areas and communities by connecting them to the broader interstate highway system ."
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/interstate.cfm
Here is the problem the callery are beautiful but if not grafted and cared for properly they are an invasive in some areas and perhaps working on adapting to other areas Callery Pear: the Jekyll and Hyde Tree | BYGL
They make not just a great rootstock for Maxine but for any pear! You might like this thread How tough are callery as rootstocks? Why use them? . Don’t need to say it all again because it’s been said Surviving on a fruit farm - spending money doesnt work
This thread even discusses the callery growing along i-35 Callery pear as rootstock? - #27 by clarkinks
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Ummm…yeah, any roadside near places Bradford or Cleveland or Aristocrat pears are … expect to find callery seedlings. (I mentioned 90-94 because they run through Chicagoland.)
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We have some type of flowering pear trees planted along the street and some seedlings (not sure fromseeds or from roots) growing near the trees. I don’t know if they are callery pear trees or other type of pear trees. One of my friend has big flowering pear tree growin her yard with many suckers. My problem is I can’t tell a callery pear tree from a flowering pear tree
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Yes, all are from China or nearby parts of the globe.
Check your favorite search engine for more details.
Pyrus Calleryana…they are all that species. “Bradford” is simply a selected cultivar that has prettier appearance than some of the seedlings, and no thorniness. That’s all the difference, basically.
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Thank you Clark. This makes things a lot simple
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If you all need a good quality disease resistant pear Maxine is a good choice i highly recommend. I’m only growing one of these trees. It’s not the very best but it’s better than most.
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I have added Maxine to a couple Frankentrees.
Been 41 years since I had one in Tennessee…but I still remember the pear. My grafts, first one possibly might fruit this year. Ripe in August.
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Hope you get Maxine pears soon! Glad everyone seems to be noticing these pears again Maxine needs to be in everyone’s orchard.
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