North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[John Henderson <jhenderson@ithaca.edu>]

We have ordered from St Lawrence off and on since 2003 and have been  
satisfied enough to keep ordering.

Back in 2003 we ordered from St Lawrence two of the pears Claude  
mentioned, the Giffard and the Savignac. Only this year did either  
start to bloom, so we are hoping to be able to comment on the fruit  
quality later this year. The two trees are quite different other than  
six years to first fruiting. The Savignac is quite vigorous and  
required some discipline to spread its branches. The Giffard is half  
the size, but naturally spreading. They are on the same rootstock,  
and about 20 feet apart. We also ordered a Golden Spice from St  
Lawrence the following year, but it did an excellent impersonation of  
a stick after its first year. We don't blame Bill MacKently for that;  
we think we planted it too close to a black walnut tree.

We got a Patten pear from another nursery. The Patten is two years  
younger and also blossoming for the first time this year.

John Henderson
Sage Hen Farm
Lodi, NY
in a frost pocket within Zone 5

On May 21, 2009, at 2:30 AM, nafex-request@lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

Date: Wed, 20 May 2009 23:58:03 -0400
From: Claude Jolicoeur <cjoli@gmc.ulaval.ca>
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] St. Lawrence Nursery - Hardy pears
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.20090520235803.0153c5a0@pop.ulaval.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Anthony Curcio wrote:
> Has anyone ordered trees from St. Lawrence nurseries ? We noticed  
> they have=
> cold hardy ( -40/-50 ) Pear trees . Is the flavor comparable to z5  
> pears ?=
> We had a couple of cold snaps last winter that brought -37 to our  
> area pro=
> mpting a new cold-hardy section of our orchard.
> Thanks, Anthony z4b

Anthony,
I have never ordered from St-Lawrence (as I am in Canada) but I have  
quite
a bit of experience with zone 4 pears. I wrote an article in the Winter
2008 Pomona on hardy pears that you could read if you have it - there  
are
quite a few varieties discussed that are sold by St-Lawrence. Some of  
the
hardy pears are of a quality comparable with well known varieties - but
sometimes the climate makes them more irrigular (i.e. some years the  
fruits
are excellent, and other years, the quality will be so-so).
Looking at the list of pears offered by St-Lawrence, here are the ones I
know and I could recommend:
Beurre Giffard - fabulous taste, very early, but fruit is small at my  
orchard.
Cabot - the one I have is very similar to Patten.
Golden Spice - excellent for juice, more acidity than usual pears.
Irregular bearer. I like to use it in cider blend.
Luscious - very small, but excellent.
Patten - one of my favorites, good quality, nice size, productive and
reliable.
Savignac - I haven't had much production yet, but it shows promise.

Claude Jolicoeur
Quebec