It is pretty common. Last year I had a few Moonglow pear blossoms. A few set fruit but had inadequate time to mature.

My orange has fresh blooms out right now also. I think on your pear and apple, it would be considered rogue bloom and you should pinch off the blossoms if you can reach them. Certain diseases can infect the tree through the blossoms at this time of year and the fruit, if they even set, would be poor quality anyway.

Dan,

In pear they call those rat tail blooms. Fireball is correct, you should pinch those off. They won't do you any good and are simply another entry point for fireblight.

Olpea...wouldn't the pinched off open tissue offer just as good an entry point for fireblight as the blossom itself?

Dan, I saw a couple of varieties of crab apples blooming on Friday in St Louis.

Appleseed:

The surface of pinched off tissue dries out and isn't a good entry point for FB. Whereas a blossom attracts bees which can spread the disease. Disease can spread to the blossom for days vs hrs or minutes for much less attractive cut tissue.

Usually it's early summer that rat tail bloom is an issue. But I guess it could spread FB this time of yr as well.

right fruitnut...I wasn't thinking about the insect spread...forgot about that.
I've had late bloom on a lot of things over the years..my Montmorency will flower and set fruit late every year. The fruit are always a bit smaller and oddly very dark in color. My Bartlett flowered for the first time on my B-day this year...Aug. 3rd.

I guess more common than I thought. I pinched them as soon as I saw them as I wont get fruit from them this late. Not a chance. One tree is quite weak and I am surprised it did this. Maybe it knows its not going to make the winter.

Greetings:

I have seen this occur several times over the years I have
worked at nurseries. On crabapples. It seems somehow
to be stress related as I normally see it after a drought (drought of 1988) and others. Always happens in Aug/sept
and just a few blooms per tree. The tree always seems fine the following year.

I presume the issue is the same when it happens on apples/pears.