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Roots 2 Fruits
Simple bare root fruit trees and ornamental trees

Dessert pear trees

We have a range of pear trees, suitable for different climates and situations, and available in different mature heights.

  • Beth

    Beth pear trees
    An easy and reliable early-season pear, with a very good melting flavour.
    • Pick season: Early
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Beurre Hardy

    Beurre Hardy pear trees
    A classic French pear with a very good flavour, but grows best in a warm sheltered situation.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Beurre Superfin

    Beurre Superfin pear trees
    A traditional French 19th century pear, widely considered one of the best for flavour.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Partially self-fertile

  • Celebration NUVAR®

    Celebration NUVAR pear trees
    Nuvar Celeberation is a large modern dessert pear.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Concorde

    Concorde pear trees
    A marriage of Conference and Comice - Concorde is easy to grow, heavy crops, excellent flavour.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Partially self-fertile

  • Conference

    Conference pear trees
    Conference is a popular and reliable English pear, well-suited to the UK climate.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Self-fertile

  • Doyenne du Comice

    Doyenne du Comice pear trees
    Doyenne du Comice is arguably the best flavoured of all pears.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Fondante d'Automne

    Fondante d'Automne pear trees
    An old fashioned French pear with a notably sweet flavour.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Glou Morceau

    Glou Morceau pear trees
    A traditional 18th century Belgian pear with a notably rich sweet flavour.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Gorham

    Gorham pear trees
    A reliable early 20th century American pear, with a sweet creamy flesh.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Self-fertile

  • Humbug

    Humbug pear trees
    Humbug is an unusual pear variety, the fruits have distinctive green and yellow stripes.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Invincible

    Invincible pear trees
    Invincible is a high quality pear which can also cope with difficult conditions.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Partially self-fertile

  • Josephine de Malines

    Josephine de Malines pear trees
    A classic 19th century winter pear with a high quality flavour.
    • Pick season: Very late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Louise Bonne of Jersey

    Louise Bonne of Jersey pear trees
    An attractive red-flushed French pear variety with sweet melting flesh.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Merton Pride

    Merton Pride pear trees
    One of the best English pears, with a notably juicy buttery flesh.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Moonglow

    Moonglow pear trees
    A high quality early season dessert and culinary pear, very resistant to fireblight.
    • Pick season: Early
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Obelisk®

    Obelisk pear trees
    A useful dwarf pear tree for small gardens, it grows with a tidy upright habit and is self-fertile.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Self-fertile

  • Onward

    Onward pear trees
    Onward is high quality dessert pear, related to Doyenne du Comice but easier to grow.
    • Pick season: Mid
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Packham's Triumph

    Packham's Triumph pear trees
    Perhaps the best known Australian pear, producing large quantities of small but sweet-flavoured pears.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Pitmaston Duchess

    Pitmaston Duchess pear trees
    Pitmaston Duchess is a traditional English dual-purpose, noted for the very large size of its pears.
    • Pick season: Late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Santa Claus

    Santa Claus pear trees
    As the name suggests, Santa Claus is a late ripening dessert pear which keeps until Christmas.
    • Pick season: Very late
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Sensation

    Sensation pear trees
    A red-coloured sport of the popular Williams pear, with a similar good flavour.
    • Pick season: Early
    • Self-fertile?: Not self-fertile

  • Williams

    Williams pear trees
    Williams is a classic English pear, also known as Bartlett, with good flavour and quite easy to grow.
    • Pick season: Early
    • Self-fertile?: Partially self-fertile

How to choose Dessert pear trees

The modern dessert pear with its refined flavours and melting flesh evolved in the 19th century, and with some exceptions almost all the pears we know today were developed at that time.

Unlike apples, which often helpfully come away in the hand when they are ripe, if you let pears ripen on the tree you will find they are overripe inside. Instead pears need to be harvested before they are ripe - then ripened in a fruit bowl. This just takes practice, and after a few seasons you will soon know the tell-tale little signs that your pears are ready for picking.