Plant Spotlight: Asian Pear

One of my favorite fruit trees we grow are our two Asian Pears. They began blooming about a week ago, and I would say they are in their peak bloom as I write. They have the classic, delicate pear blossom, with bright green leaf growth following behind, then in September, delicious orb shaped pears hang from the boughs. 

We have found that of all the fruit trees we grow, our Asian Pears are the least fussy, we don’t do much for them, we occasionally spray them with neem oil and compost tea as well as fertilize them from time to time, but in general we have found them to be healthy trees with very little in the way of disease / pest issues. As an added bonus, they started producing in their second season of being planted here, not much of a harvest that year, I think just 3 pears that year, but still, it was excited to have fruit so early! I am hopeful of an increased harvest of pears this year, so here’s hoping the bees are out there buzzing on these warm days and pollination the pears! 

One of our Asian Pear’s is located in our front entry potager garden, along with another unique tree, a cultivated variety of our native American Persimmon. These two trees are an anchor in our front space, adding height and visual interest. The front entry garden is not large, in fact the bed the Asian Pear is in is quite small, but even small gardens can have big plants, in fact I think they should, it might sound counter intuitive, but adding large plants can make a space feel larger, specially a plant like a tree, were you are getting access to that vertical space. It adds dimension to a space and it changes how light moves across it the space, creating dapple light, and interesting shadows.

If you have a small or big garden, think about adding a fruiting tree or two!