Pear Pollination Map

Most pears need a second variety to set a real crop, and a few that set some fruit alone still do a lot better with one. Pears bloom well ahead of apples, so an apple can't pollenize a pear.

Plan on two pears

Even the pears listed as partly self-fertile (Bartlett, D'Anjou, Seckel, Flemish Beauty) crop far better with a partner in the same or next bloom group.

Luscious can't pollenize

Luscious is pollen-sterile. It needs a partner, but it can't be one, so plant two other pears with it.

Watch these pairs

Red Sensation Bartlett is a Bartlett sport and Red d'Anjou is a D'Anjou sport, so they don't help their parents. Bartlett with Seckel and Bartlett with Cold Snap are also poor matches.

Asian pear blooms early

Taylor Apple Pear is an Asian pear. Asian pears open ahead of most European pears, so pair it with the early hardy pears like Krazulya, Larinskaya and Vekovaya.

Find a partner for your tree

Pick a variety you have or want. You'll see every tree we carry that will pollenize it, with what's in stock first.

The pear pollination map

Find the tree you want fruit on in the left column, then read across. Each column is a pollen source. Taylor Apple Pear is an Asian pear. It's shown next to the early European pears it blooms with.

Good match (same bloom group)Partial match (one group apart)Bloom too far apartPoor pollen (triploid, pollen-sterile or disputed)Won't work (same clone or incompatible)Same variety
Sort:

* bloom group is our best estimate.

Bloom groups at a glance

2 Early

3 Early-Mid

4 Mid

5 Mid-Late

How to read these maps

Bloom groups

Every variety gets a bloom group from 1 (very early) to 7 (very late). Groups only compare varieties of the same fruit. An apple in group 4 and a plum in group 4 don't bloom at the same time.

Close enough counts

Two varieties in the same group or one group apart overlap enough to pollenize each other, as long as the pollen is good and they aren't the same tree genetically.

Where the groups come from

Published bloom records come first. For apples that's measured bloom dates from the Apple Biodiversity Collection in Nova Scotia, checked against multi-year nursery and extension groupings. Next comes sourced facts, like a sport blooming with its parent. Anything marked * is our best estimate from the variety's origin and relatives.

Your spring will vary

A warm or cold spring shifts every tree earlier or later, but the order stays about the same. If you watch your trees bloom and something doesn't match, tell us. Your notes make these maps better.

More pollination maps