I’ll try to get down to my main orchard tomorrow and take a pic. Are you looking for pics of leaf and fruit buds or bark?
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Just bark and buds. Years ago I grafted a gold spice and tags were destroyed by weather. I’m suspicious this could be gold spice.
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Here is a recent facebook post from Bernie:
Russian Pear Winter Hardiness Update
After my depressing post on the death of almost all of my sweet cherry varieties on test after -36C, I thought a more positive post might be in order 
I have started a second test orchard at a friends acreage northeast of Sherwood Park near Ardrossan. The site is in a lower area (aren’t they all it seems when we try to get a test orchard going) which is good as there is no protection from the cold by being up on a hill. The temperature this winter dropped to -38C. In a cold winter -40C and a bit colder is common at this site. This was basically “an average winter” there according to my friend who owns the acreage.
I have planted about three dozen Russian pears on Siberian rootstock at this location over the last two years. The trees are now around 3 ft. tall, and were a good 18 inches or so above the snow all winter. They are individually fenced with stucco wire to stop rabbits, porcupines, deer, and moose from chewing them, and are wrapped to prevent vole damage in the winter.
The varieties are Krazulya, Krasnobokaya, Marshal Zhukov, Sentyabrina, Memory Zhegalova, Memory Yakolev, Chizhovsky, Kudesnitsa, Vekovaya, Bolshaya, Sentyabrina, and I’m sure a few other varieties I can’t remember right now (but they are labeled at the site).
Here is the good news…Every single variety seemed fully hardy to the tips when I visited the orchard a few days ago. So they seem fully hardy for us in a “normal winter to -38C”.
According to the Russian literature, these pears are more tender when young in terms of winter temperatures, but they gain “significant hardiness” once they are old enough to produce. But -38C with no damage as young trees is pretty good, and they should all be hardy in our conditions, so grow away with confidence to the folks that have them planted from the scionwood exchanges at the Botanic Garden over the last couple of years.
and
Many should pass our stringent taste tests, and every variety should easily surpass in quality what we have available now (ie Early Gold, Ure, Golden Spice, and the “apostle” series from the U of Saskatchewan). Of the 6 varieties that have fruited for me so far, Krasnobokaya was the best tasting, full sized, and to me as good or better than any Safeway bought pear. But there are supposed to be even better tasting ones we have growing for the folks who have them on test from the Botanic Gardens scionwood exchange. Time will tell…Here is a photo of the best tasting so far to me, Krasnobokaya. But keep in mind the better tasting ones have yet to fruit for us yet, and this one was really, really good.
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I noticed that my Russian pears, Krazulya and Vekovaya as well as the Beedle pear had no tip die this winter. And funny enough the Siberian pear right next to it did, go figure. We had an extremely tough winter and it lasted long into April.
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same here. funny thing is my autumn olive bushes, z3 hardy, i put in 3 years ago, every year before this one, i had dieback to snowline except this last winter and it was much colder than the previous winters. then my goumis that are only marginally z4b hardy have never had any damage in 3 yrs., and are sittling right next to the AOs.
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Anyone have any updates on the Russian pears? I’ve not spoke with Bernie lately since im not keeping up with other pear groups lately. @hungryfrozencanuck4b have you heard any new updates?
@clarkinks (Scion exchange is in Alberta so bad news for most of you.)
Here is his most recent post:
A few folks have inquired about which varieties of brand new test pears will be available for purchase at the scionwood exchange. I just spent a few hours chip budding the below on Siberian Pear rootstock growing in the greenhouse this afternoon. Most should take and be budding out nicely by April 14. First come first serve.
The translation descriptions from Russian are below. The taste is rated out of “5” and anything 4.5 or better is considered very good tasting, commercial quality. Hardiness ratings are based on Russian tests, and all should survive and thrive in our very similar climate with similar winter lows.
“Winter Glazkov” . Taste - 4.6; frost resistance - 45 * C; weight - 160-200 g; storage - 5-6 months. There are small stony inclusions near the seminal chamber, when fully ripe, resembles the taste of the Duches pear.
“Memory of Zhegalov” taste - 4.6; frost resistance - 42 * C; weight 160 g; storage - 2 months. Without grain. Oily, sweet, excellent quality pear.
“Novella” taste - 4.7; very beautiful, this sort of pear has undergone strain testing in the Southern Urals and showed itself on the best side, winter, in all respects is competitive with southern varieties, oily; frost resistance - 41 * С; weight - 180g; storage - 4 months, the originator of the TsGL, Michurinsk.
"Sentyabrina " One of the best varieties of Sverdlovsk selection, originator Kotov LA Color - green, caramel taste - 4.7; frost resistance - 45 * C; weight 150g. Storage of 1 month
“Marshal Zhukov” A new very large pear, well over 200 grams, survives -42C with no tip damage and bears full crops after these temperatures. Very good taste, 4.6
“Talitsa” Perhaps the hardiest pear on earth, survived -60C above the snow in Siberian tests (with considerable damage, but it did survive). Ripe in only 78 days from full bloom. Smaller, does not store long, but very good taste 4.5. Should survive and fruit in Yellowknife and Whitehorse, Yukon.
“Chizhovsky” The standard that any new hardy pears others are compared against. Hardy to below -40C, 4.5 taste, stores one month, medium size, golden yellow pear.
And from another post:
Best Tasting Pear in Finland
A contact of mine, Harri, lives in costal Finland, and is growing or trying to grow lots of different pears. His winter minimums are very mild by our standards, -25C is as cold as it gets for him. However his summers are cool, cloudy, and often drizzly and he doesn’t get the heat we get on the Canadian Prairies in summer. He might get one day that hits +25C, the high for the entire year, and many of the other days don’t even hit 20C in July due to his coastal location by the ocean.
While he can grow lots of different pear varieties, they don’t taste good as they don’t have the summer heat to develop the sugars. The one exception is as he writes below:
"Almost all pears was quite tasteless or without sugar, last summer was super lousy.
one exception was Tsisovskaja. photo attached. I have grafted it to Sorbus aucuparia 3 years ago. Sorbus aucuparia grows in nature almost everywhere.here in Finland.
I have also several Tsisovskaja pear trees grafted to pyrus communis… still young trees"
Harri grafts Tsisovskaja pear to mountain ash and pear seedlings with good success and says it is the one that tastes really good even after cool and short summers.
It turns out Tsisovaskaja is the Finnish name for a Russian pear called CHIZHOVSKY, developed in Moscow a few years back. Chizhovsky is rapidly becoming a standard in Russia and in other areas with harsh winters and short cool summers as it develops sugars and tastes great even in areas with short cool summers (way worse than the Canadian prairies). It takes -40C and colder in winter, and always comes through with a good crop in Russia. Reports show it survives on its own trunk even after -42C winter temperatures. It sounds about perfect for us to test!
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@hungryfrozencanuck4b,
No worries tell Bernie i said hello if you see him. He used my top working pears photos last year as an instructional. He has done a lot of excellent work with these Russian pears.
I have Vekovaya, Krazulya, Krasnobokaya and Larinskaya grafted and see some fruiting spurs so I have fingers crossed for some fruit to test this year. Also his “Beedle” pear as well.
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Very nice collection! Cant wait to see the post on the fruit!
My Beedle and the two Krazulya came thru our terrible winter with flying colours. No tip die and we had weeks of sub-30C weather.
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Since there is interest in these Russian pears I thought I’d update the “bad news” from last winter. These pears are very hardy and have not exhibited damage down to around -40C. HOWEVER, they are bred in areas without winter thaws. Normally my area does not get winter thaws to any large degree (central Alberta). But this winter it was +9C at my site (about 48F) and then one week or so later -40C!!!) This was record cold for February and I think record warmth for that day in late January. All the Russian pears really took a beating for the first time. For example some that take down to around -50C were severely damaged with many grafts dying and others barely leafing out in a feeble manner. They are supposed to recover well from winter injury, so I’ll see next year I guess. There is almost no fruiting this year. We may have had the worst winter in 50 years for fruit trees due to the enormous range of temperature in only about one week. Many apricots, plums, and pears are severely injured, but the apples generally seem fine. So these pears are not for areas with warm thaws in winter followed by very cold weather.
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Then I would assume they should be good for me, we don’t get winter thaws.
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Interesting!
Here in central Montana, we had a very similar winter. The trees that were regarded as slightly LESS winter hardy seemed to fare a little better than the more rugged ones.
I lost both of my Romeo Dwarf Cherries, and a couple Chestnut Crabs. My Golden Spice and Cabot Pears seemed to thrive as well as my Adirondack Gold Apricots. The Juliet and Carmine Jewel Cherries looked OK but none of them nor did any of my surviving apple trees bloom this spring. The fruiting tips must have been nipped! These trees were in their fourth or fifth year and most had fruit or at least some blooms a year ago. I have had trees die back to some extent in the past, but this year they either looked perfectly fine or were dead! The wild temperature swings from last winter was followed by a summer of repeated hail storms knocking leaves off and bruising the bark. We will see how many make it to next spring! Sometimes I think my orchard is little more than a tree torture expiriment!
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I planted a Krazulya 2 years ago and a Vekovaya this past year…both from Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery. …their trees start out small but seem to be quite healthy with decent grafts
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Yep, Eric is a good guy. I’ve got 5-6 of the Russian pears grafted so far. The Lucious I got this year was AWESOME though.
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2020 update from Bernie:
RUSSIAN PEAR BAD WINTER DAMAGE!
Sadly I have had MAJOR damage on about all of my Russian pears. I have had TWO test winters in a row. Last year it hit +9C and about a week later -40C. This year on Jan. 15 I recorded -42C, the coldest in over one third of a century! Winter damage is “cumulative” and if the trees don’t get a few years of normal or mild winters to recover, bad things happen.
Basically I’d say these pears all take to -35C with no problems, but then start to get significant damage as the temperatures approach -40C. My thinking is they are good for the big cities and the microclimates in them, but not for outside the city, at least not most varieties. In a nutshell if you can grow and fruit Honeycrisp apple and Mount Royal Plum, any of the Russian pears should do well for you. But if those two varieties have winter damage problems at your location, you will have challenges growing the Russian pears. I have not experienced any hardiness problems with them until the last couple of winters. They were all basically hardy to the tips.
The only three varieties that showed no damage and are blooming are Bolshaya, Larinskaya, and Zarechnaya. The next hardiest group with some damage but not too bad are Successful Falkenberg and Favoritka. All the rest seem severely damaged and many are simply not leafing out as a general rule as of today, May 25. And most of them are topworked to hardy pear trees in my backyard, not on their own trunks.
Its not just the Russian pears either:
Southworth pear…seems totally dead
Patten pear…seems totally dead
Julienne Pear…seems totally dead
Northbright Pear…seems totally dead or very minor leafing just above the graft union with 95% of branches dead.
KinderKrisp apple…the grafted branches are either dead, or half the ends of the branch are dead.
Petite Soeur plum, dead to the snowline or slightly above the snowline.
So “life ain’t easy” if you are a fruit tree in Alberta. But on the positive side anything that survives and does well is certainly “hardy” for Alberta. Almost all my apple varieties showed no damage, except for Honeycrisp/KinderKrisp/Honeycrisp seedlings. Plums such as Ptitsin #5 and Pembina did not show any damage. And two European plums from Russia called Delicate and Eurasia 21 not only survived, but are blooming so they may have excellent potential for us!
The below photo is pretty typical of what I see this spring. The green leaves with blossoms are Bolshaya pear. The dead branches besides it are various other Russian and non-Russian pears.
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2020 Posting from Quebec based Hardy Fruit tree nursery
Hardy Fruit Tree Nursery
In search of the Perfect Pear….
A couple of weeks ago, we shared the results of our taste testing of apples. However it’s not only apples in our experimental orchard! We have also been testing hundreds of varieties of many other fruits and nuts. This week, it’s the turn of the pears! It was an exceptionally good year for us in our pear harvest, and we were able to taste many cultivars that we never had the opportunity to test before!
Most of our pears fall into two families: the family of Ussuriensis (hybrids between Pyrus Ussuriensis and Pyrus Communis) and the European family (Pyrus Communis.)
The pears in the Ussuriensis family are generally more cold resistant, but their flavour is different to what we are used to, more pronounced and complex, often astringent. The European Family pears are those that are mostly commercialised; they include pears such as the famous Bartlett. They are generally mild sweet, with a more subtle flavour, and most are not very resistant to cold.
So here without further delay are our results for 2019!
USSURIENSIS FAMILY
Krazulya (russian origin) keeps its place at the top of
our list for its flavour, sweetness and early harvest.
Vekovaya (russian origin): We had a good harvest of Vekovaya, which gave rise to interesting discussions and some divergence of opinion! It is an absolutely magnificent pear, large with a smooth skin. Its texture is also rather agreeable: very juicy, firm and crunchy. Its flesh is quite sweet and has a balanced flavour, a little floral - some really like it, others not so much. Its weak point is the astringence in the skin.
Verdict: peeled, this pear is excellent to eat fresh and in tarts, and also would make a good addition to salads! Hardy in zone 3, worth trying in zone 2
Ure: The variety that showed the least insect damage! This pear also received 5 out of 5 for its sweet taste.
EUROPEAN FAMILY
Julienne: one of our overall favourites this year, receiving 5 out of 5 for overall appreciation, with an agreeable melting texture and a lovely sweet flavour with a hint of aniseed in its skin. It also keeps very well for 3 months after harvest. Hardy to zone 3!
Patten and Southworth: The Best in Conservation. Both keep exceptionally well, Patten, in particular actually improves significantly in flavour after about 2 months in conservation. Both are hardy to zone 3
Poire de Semenaire: (a variety that we don’t yet propagate) received the distinction of Most Interesting Flavour: - it has an unconventional flavour for a pear, reminiscent of litchi! However, this pear was also very much affected by insect damage.
BEST NEW PEARS
Many new varieties started to produce for us in 2019, and were submitted to taste-testing. We made several interesting discoveries!
Our favourites were Louise Bonne d’Avranche, So Sweet, Waterville, Northbrite and Cabot.
We continue to evaluate these and others over the course of the seasons, and are certainly considering propagating some of them; but we will also consider their hardiness and disease-resistance when deciding which ones to add to our selection.
We can’t wait to see what new varieties 2020 has in store for us!
Have you tasted any of the pears listed above? Do you agree with our marks? What are your favourites?
Interested in growing pear trees in Canada? It is possible and it starts here! [Pear tree]
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It’s been some time now since we had a new update about some of the Russian pears. @smsmith how are yours doing this year? There are additional cold hardy pears mentioned on this forum.The pears you may not have heard of and should consider growing - #148 by clarkinks. I’m very glad @Bernie has been able to give us a few updates lately on some of the Canadian fruits. Konrad provided these updates on houzz https://www.houzz.com/discussions/lets-talk-about-hardy-pears-dsvw-vd~4134934 . @hungryfrozencanuck4b was able to give us many updates. @yri32 have there been any new updates in Russia on pears since you originally posted? @Stan have you received any new information? We get to where we have several threads going Early cold-hardy pear varieties? - #4 by hungryfrozencanuck4b and Krazulya Pear - #2 by clarkinks to name a few.
Nope.
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