That said, I've never thought the pears they've offered me have been especially good, although they don't seem to have a handle on how/when to pick and/or store (in the case of the Comice) the fruit.

I'm going to assemble some pear trees myself this Winter. I've chosen Moretini, Seckel, Warren, and Buerre Superfin.

My original plan included Bartlett (which I absolutely love--when it's good) and Comice, but I was persuaded to to try these instead. If you can place your trees where they won't get much Winter sun, that would help with the chill hours, but pears seem be a little forgiving.

Early
Seckel Pear
Comice Pear
Concorde Pear
Moonglow Pear
Fondante de Moulins Lille Pear
Pineapple Pear
Rescue Pear
White Doyenne

Late
Jiugnos Pear TM
Bella Di Guigno Pear
Butirra Precoce Morettini Pear
"Citron de Carmes Pear
Aurora Pear
Ubileen Pear
Doyenne de Juliette Pear

I would strongly suggest you contact either Tierra Madre Farm: http://www.tierramadrefarm.com/

Or, Trees of Antiquity:
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/

Tierra Madre Farms is in Santa Cruz, and Trees of Antiquity are in Paso Robles. Both in areas that understand your climate well. They are both absolutely fantastic companies, with excellent selections of fabulous heirloom pears, apples, and other stone fruits.
to discuss what they think will work well for your area. Pears and a little forgiving, like apples I've found, and will produce even in areas that perhaps as a little shy on chill hours for you. Seckel and Comice both should do fine for you. And, there are so man other, better choices than Bartlett.

Patty S.

Thanks!

I have a friend who is always sending me a box of pears from that famous pear place for Christmas, which all get ripe at the same time of course, and I'm sorry, but I can only eat so many pears! I usually end up putting them in vinegar to make pear-flavored vinegar. (and hinting at other times of the year that I hate it when all my pears get ripe at once because what can you do with them??? Somehow she never makes the connection :)

Carla in Sac

Also, I think Concorde is a pretty late pear. Whole Foods has had them for the last ~3 weeks and I've enjoyed them quite a bit. They are sweet (16-17 brix), and juicy, all while still being reasonably firm. They also had a wonderful fruity flavor with a hint of something like vanilla. I'm tempted to add it, but I don't see it available on either of the two site. The only place I see it is from Grandpa's Orchard, but I've already gotten my order from them this year (and it's on OHxF97, which is non-ideal).

I thought that maybe I was becoming a bigger fan of pears, so I tried some Bartlets and Boscs (previous favorite). The Bartlet were not so tasty (brix of 11-12 and unpleasant flavor) and the Bosc were OK (brix 12-14, a bit tougher texture (not a bad thing), and OK flavor). I know Bosc can be better, as I had some which reached 18 brix and were quite good, which I picked from a PYO around September 10. I'm guessing that both these pears were picked too early, in order to store until now.

Patty S.