Blakeney Red Pear
Blakeney Red Pear
History: Blakeney Red (aka Circus pear, Red pear, and Painted Lady) is believed to have originated in the English village of Blakeney, its birthplace and the prominent red blush on the fruit earning it its name. It may have been originally planted sometime in the 1700s but became better known starting around 1830 and was the most widely planted perry pear. It is still popular in the UK today and is gaining attention in North America as well. A yellow dye can also be made from this variety and it was used to dye khakis for British soldiers during WW1.
Why We Grow It: This perry pear produces small to medium yellow fruit with red blush and some russet. For those interested in perry, it's hard to ignore this variety's long history, although its quality can vary based on growing conditions.
Fruit Specs
Fruit Specs
Recommended Use: Perry, cooking
Fruit Size: Small-medium
Storage: Process within a week
Harvest: September - Late
Perry Class: Class: ?
Sugar: SG 1056
Acidity: Medium
Tannins: Medium
Recommendations: Good when made into a single-variety perry or used in blends
Growing Specs
Growing Specs
Canadian Hardiness Zone: 4
Soil Preference: 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: Requires a pollinator of a different pear variety (European or Asian) that blooms around the same time
Sun/Shade Requirements:
Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)
General Growth Habits:
Vigorous, spur-bearing, produces heavy and reliable crops.
Shipping vs. Pick Up
Shipping vs. Pick Up
CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.
Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. 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, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.
Size at Purchase
Size at Purchase
Our grafted fruit trees are graded into three categories, and the size includes the rootstock:
- 50-80cm whip: may have some minor branching, this grade is like a "b-grade" size tree in industry standards; we include in this price category trees that are over 1m but have some scarring or mild crookedness.
- 1m+ whip: may have some minor branching, aka feathering. This is like a typical one-year whip in industry standards.
- 1m+ branched: these trees must be over a meter and have 3 or more branches 30cm or longer, as well as a central leader. They are essentially a two-year tree in industry standards.
- For stone fruits only - 1m+ whip/branched: We have combined these grades based on the way these trees grow and are grafted. Plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches naturally tend to grow more vigorously compared to apples and are more likely to form larger trees with more branches. However, we only chip bud them so they are a one-year old tree by industry standards. Apples and pears are partially bench grafted, and using the knip-boom method the grading becomes more complicated, hence the reason they are split into different grades.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "to 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.