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For a decade, we've harvested Bartlett pears from a tree in our back yard. It stands about eight feet tall and its umbrella shape sometimes yields over 10 pears a day during the hottest summer days.
We recently removed a hedge of 30-foot-tall arborvitae, which had hemmed in a different pear tree; a Comice. Below the tangled arborvitae root, this Bucket memorializes the Comice's recent recovery from 30 years of shade and solitude.
The Comice's elongated, spindly tall shape diverted so far from the pear tree's classic umbrella-shape, that a professional arborist mistook it for an Ash tree. He became angry when I pointed our his error.
Nonethelss, his crew trimmed it down nicely this Spring, but it is still a thin 25 feet high. (All photos lightboxed)
And with the Arborvitae gone, the Comice basked in the full sun, and began yielding daily pears in late summer. They were firmer than the Bartlett pears, but after they fell and we stuck them in cold storage for a week or so, my goodness they were sweet.
We were happy to have a new pear supply. And the Comices began falling, practically when the Bartlett tree stopping providing pears, for a seamless transition.
The Comice also surprised me by providing fruit the same season it was trimmed. Often trees get cranky after getting trimmed.
The Comice surprised me again today, when I noticed it still harbored a few pears high in the air, even though it is almost November. The Bartlett gave up its last pears by Labor Day. You can see a couple of pears just right of center in this photo.
I had never harvested pears from 15 feet in the air. Finally I got out an "extendo-saw," which is a small saw on a telescoping shaft, swung it like a sickle through the small branch, and the pear fell. It was oversized and battle scarred, like an aged prizefighter.
We ate it for dessert last night. It was apple-firm, but not as juicy as the best comices. I'll pick them earlier next year.
The comice were first cultivated in France in the 1840s, and took hold about 300 miles south of Portland, near Medford Oregon. It's also known as the European pear Pyrus communis, or the common pear.
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Thank you for reading. I'll work this morning so I'll respond to comments before lunchtime, PDT.