Eric,
Magness and Warren are not the same, here in Connecticut. Although they are similar, Magness is a higher quality pear. Warren is more disease resistant.

Like a lot of pears they seem to take forever to bear.
They both appear to be immune to scab and fire blight.

In my opinion Magness is a better quality pear then Comice, as grown here

Bob, zone 5 Connecticut

Agree, everything I've seen from folks who've fruited both, indicates that they're similar, but not the same.

Reports are that both are pollen-sterile, hence cannot pollenize any other pears, and produce little or no nectar, and as a result are not especially attractive to pollenators. Some have recommended grafting individual branches of Warren into existing trees of other varieties, to enhance likelihood of visits by pollenators, rather than grafting free-standing trees of Warren itself.

I have a free-standing tree of Warren - planted along with a dozen other varieties, and it does set fruit, but sparingly. Magness has not yet fruited here.

I think I'm set on scion wood now -- thank you -- but I'd still like to hear other's thoughts on varieties. I'm especially still curious what others think of Potomac and/or Shenandoah.

On a related note, a neighbor gave me a very large rusty looking pear last fall that I assumed was an Asian pear because it was round and crispy like an Asian pear, but someone else told me that Asian pears are all pretty new to the US, and I know this tree was grafted 15-30 years ago from a local tree that was pretty mature already at that time. In any case, I thought the pear was very good. Is it actually a European pear? Is it true that any tree that was in North Carolina 25+ years ago isn't as Asian pear? All of my neighbors just refer to it as a pear, not an Asian pear or otherwise part of a different a category from regular pears.

Asians and hybrids of the various Asian pear species with European pears have been in this country for over 150 years. Your neighbor's pear may be grafted from a chance seedling, or an older named selection whose ID has been lost in the mists of time.

My question seems like a dumb one now that you've told me the answer. It must be an Asian or Asian hybrid then. How readily to Asian and European pears cross/hybridize? With callery, European, and Asian pears growing in the area, if I were to grow a tree from a Euro or Asian seed would I be likely to get a cross? I don't think I have any reason to try, but I'm just curious.

My impression was they cross fine but the asians tend to bloom early and the Euros late so that reduces the odds and so random seeds will probably not have many crosses in them.

My Magness is like Luckys, no fruit yet.

Scott

There's a new scionwood exchange group on yahoo. check it out, you might get your needs met there....

"Maxine" and "Starking Delicious" are often considered the same.

I'm not in position to send scionwood now but will have budwood this summer as trimmings from a few other southern pears of some potential.

If you haven't tried it, you might try Joseph at the repository in Corvallis.

Here is a link that might be useful: Germplasm repository