Onward

Onward is an attractive yellow pear, often with an orange flush, and occasionally some russet. The flavour is of high quality and it is a reliable cropper - all in all, an excellent garden pear variety.

Onward was developed from the well-known French variety Doyenne du Comice, usually considered the best-flavoured of all pears, but somewhat fussy in its requirements. The goal was to retain the excellent flavour and texture of Comice but in a tree that was easier to grow in the UK.

 

 

Growing and Training

Far easier to grow in almost every respect than Doyenne du Comice, crops are reliable and the blossom is usefully resistant to spring frosts.

The main horticultural challenge is that it can be difficult to spot when Onward pears are ripe, so you need to be alert from mid-September onwards in the UK, to make sure you pick the crop at the right time. The pears should be picked when still relatively hard and ripened in a fruit bowl, as they will not ripen correctly on the tree.

Note that contrary to what our pollination notes say, Onward will not reliably pollinate Doyenne du Comice or vice versa - they are too closely related.

History

Developed at the National Fruit Trials at Wisley, in Surrey. 1940s. It is a cross of Doyenne du Comice and an old Laxton's variety called Superb.

Onward characteristics

• Gardening skillAverage
• Fruit persistenceNormal ripening
• Self-fertile?Not self-fertile
• Pollinating othersAverage
• Pick seasonMid
• Picking periodmid-September
• Keeping1 week
• Food usesEating fresh
• Country of originUnited Kingdom
• Period of origin1900 - 1949
• Fruit colourOrange flush

You might also like these varieties

• 
  Beth
  An easy and reliable early-season pear, with a very good melting flavour.
• 
  Concorde
  A marriage of Conference and Comice - Concorde is easy to grow, heavy crops, excellent flavour.
• 
  Conference
  Conference is a popular and reliable English pear, well-suited to the UK climate.
• 
  Williams
  Williams is a classic English pear, also known as Bartlett, with good flavour and quite easy to grow.

More about 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.