Bartlett European Pear Bareroot

Spring Planting (Ship or Pickup March - May 2027)

Grown by: Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Why We Grow It: Bartlett is the most commonly grown pear in North America and with good reason. Not only is it productive and easy to grow, but it produces large yellow fruit with a delectable flavour.

Note: We graft our Dwarf Bartletts with an Old Home interstem to maintain compatibility between Province Quince rootstock and Bartlett.

Recommended Use: Canning, fresh eating

Fruit Size: Medium

Storage: Keeps until mid-September when stored in cool, humid conditions and until October when stored in cold storage

Harvest: September - Early

Cider or Perry Class (if applicable):

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

Soil Preferance: Sandy loam, loam, clay loam. Prefers average to moist conditions with well-drained soils, avoid planting anywhere that floods for more than two weeks in the spring.

Flowering Time: Middle

Bloom Colour: White

Pollination Requirements: Partially self-pollinating, this variety will produce some fruit without a pear of a different variety but will produce more and better fruit if one is present. This variety is incompatible with Seckel.

Sun/Shade Requirements: Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

General Growth Habit: Moderately vigorous and very hardy, spreading growth habit, has good crops. Susceptible to scab, mildew, fireblight, pear blister mite, and coddling moth but tolerant of stony pit.

Overall Grower Ease Rating:

This rating is a combination of our experience growing in our test orchards and current available information on the cultivar.

Bartlett pear, also known as William's Bon Chretien (translated from French as William's Good Christian) or William's pear in Europe, has a long history with unknown origins. What we do know is that in 1483 King Louis XI summoned holy man Francis of Paola to his deathbed and Francis offered the king a pear seed from his birthplace of Calabria in Italy. The name 'Good Christian' was given to the pear as a result. In 1799, this variety was brought to Roxbury, Massachusetts where it was planted and eventually renamed 'Bartlett' by Enoch Bartlett who was unaware of its origins. The mistake was not realized until 1828, by which time "Bartlett" pears were already popular in North America and the mistake could not be undone.

Our grafted fruit trees are graded into two categories, and the size includes the rootstock:

  • 50-80cm grade: Smaller trees that may have some minor branching, this grade is like a "b-grade" size tree according to industry standards. This size may include trees that are over 1m but have some scarring or mild crookedness.
  • 1m+ grade: Trees that are over 1m tall, some may have no branches and others may have light feathering or a few established branches 

Please keep in mind, bareroot trees appear small if you are unfamiliar with them. Size can vary year to year due to weather conditions and every single variety has a unique amount of vigour (some varieties naturally are smaller and some bigger, much like humans -and when you propagate hundreds of varieties, there certainly is variation). While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth. Therefore you may find some conventional nursery stock larger in comparison. 


Why plant small? It's best to transplant a tree when it's young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and after a few years bareroot trees tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted trees planted at the same time.

Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the trees are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them, and send them out via courier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, location, etc.

When Will My Order Be Ready?

By default, all bareroot plants are only available for spring planting (late March to late May).

Spring: Spring orders are generally ready to be picked up or shipped out anywhere from late March to late May! We will be in touch in the spring once your order is ready to go. Orders placed in the spring might not be ready for 1-2 weeks as this is a very busy time of year for us.

Fall: Customers are welcome to request fall pickup or shipping for orders that only contain bareroot apples and pears. Fall orders are generally ready to be picked up or shipped out around mid-November.

We only recommend fall planting for experienced growers located in areas that are zone 6 or warmer. Bareroot plants planted in the Fall are not covered under our 90 Day Guarantee.

$58.50

Rootstock: Provence Quince Dwarf
Size: 1m+ grade

Out of stock

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