"Wardens", "Warden Pears", class of English cooking/storage pear

General Fruit Growing
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On the most recent Orchard People podcast they featured a horticulturist from the UK named Lindsay Engers, and he briefly mentioned something called a Warden Pear. He didn’t go into much detail, but it sounded like it might be a class of old pear rather than a specific cultivar. A type of pear grown for storage and cooking rather than fresh eating, and he even mentioned it being used as a replacement for potato or at least predating the potato as a storage crop in some areas. Sounds fascinating.

A quick online search says the following might be cultivar names of some Warden type pears. ‘Dr Udale’s Warden’, ‘(Dr) Uvedale’s St Germain’, ‘Spanish Bonchrétien’, the ‘Pound Pear’ or ‘Poire de Livre’, ‘Parkinson’s Warden’ and the ‘Black Pear of Worcester’, or ‘Worcester Black’. Some of which might be different names for the same variety.

Do any of you in the U.S. have any of these Warden type pears? I’m always looking out for unique storage fruit and would love to find a stateside source.

Source of the cultivar names: Book Notes: The Original Warden Pear, by Margaret Roberts | Orchard Notes

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I have the “Pound” pear (and St. Remy pear too) but it has not offered any fruit yet.

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@derekamills may also have Gieser Wildeman and Worcester Black.

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I do grow Gieser Wildeman but not Worcester Black.

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Just read about Worcester Black, sounds very interesting. Did you have any luck finding a source for this pear?

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I was not able to find a US source for Worcester Black unfortunately. I did purchase scions of Pound Pear and Gieser Wildeman from Derek Mills. They both seem to be in that same class of hard winter cooking pears. I’m excited to add them to my collection. I would still love to have Worcester Black if it ever turns up though.

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I wonder if seeds might be found of Worcester Black, yes open pollinated but might be interesting growing them out to see what you get.

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