Karl's Favorite Pear

Overview

Karl’s Favorite (also known as Ewart) is a high-quality European pear that was discovered along a farm fence row by Mortimer Ewart of East Akron, Ohio in 1928 and later became widely circulated in northern plantings.  

Fruit Quality & Uses

Karl’s Favorite produces medium to very large pears, sometimes even being exceptionally large, with yellow skin and light russeting. It has a fine-textured, melting, juicy flesh and excellent flavor. It’s a strong fresh-eating pear and is also well suited to canning. 

Growth Habit & Spacing

The tree is precocious and very productive. It even has a somewhat corky, willowy growth habit, which is always fun to see. Spacing should follow your rootstock and training system, but as a practical baseline for the Karl's Favorite we are offering for 2026 on semi-standard OHxF 97 rootstock, plan roughly 16-18 feet between trees, (unless you’re intentionally managing a tighter, high-prune system. 

Cold Hardiness

Hardiness claims for Karl’s Favorite vary substantially—some catalogs list it conservatively (for example, Zone 4). Purvis specifically notes flower buds hardy to at least −34°F for Ewart (Karl’s Favorite).
That lines up well with Jim Walla’s North Dakota observations: when Fargo hit −37°F in the winter of 2018–2019, Karl’s Favorite reportedly showed bud damage. (Although he didn't state if this was leaf bud or flower bud damage). Given that, and staying conservative, listing Karl’s Favorite as a Zone 3b pear and hardy to about −35°F is a cautious, defensible position (Purvis notes zone 3b, so this tracks)—even if some sources claim greater hardiness. 

Applied to Montana: from what we have read and from these cold-event observations, Karl’s Favorite should do well in most of Western Montana, but it would generally not be advised for Eastern Montana except for some of the warmer valleys and microclimates (such as Billings and similar favorable pockets), where winter extremes and wind exposure are less punishing. 

Pollination

Like almost all pears, Karl's Favorite is not self-fertile, and needs a pollenizer, or cross-pollination with another compatible pear that overlaps bloom, improving fruit set and consistency. Pollenizers for Karl's Favorite that we offer include Bartlett, Red d’Anjou, Seckel, Flemish Beauty, Savignac, Beurré Giffard, Red Sensation Bartlett, Nova, Luscious.

Final Note

Karl's Favorite pears have excellent dessert quality, strong productivity, and at least some fire blight resistance relative to Bartlett (though not “immune” in every setting), and would be considered fairly cold hardy.