Vermont Beauty Pear (Spring 2027)

This is our first year growing Vermont Beauty, so everything below is secondhand until we get more long-term data from our own mother trees.

Overview

Vermont Beauty is a small, bright-cheeked pear shaped like a Seckel, only bigger and showier. U.P. Hedrick wrote in 1921 that "of all pears, those of this variety... best satisfy the eye for bright color."

Origin and History

Hedrick says it's supposed to have originated at Benjamin Macomber's nursery in Grand Isle, Vermont, sometime before about 1880. It was one of hundreds of seedlings planted for rootstock. The bud grafted onto it failed, and the seedling was left to grow. It was introduced by W.P. Rupert and Son of Seneca, New York, and added to the American Pomological Society's list in 1899. Hedrick also compared it closely with the old German pear Forelle and found the two "indistinguishable," so it may really be Forelle under a new name. It's also a grandparent of Honeysweet.

Fruit and Uses

Hedrick says the fruit is "almost as delectable as those of Seckel, which they resemble in shape, but are larger and handsomer." Bob Purvis describes it as medium sized and lemon yellow, with melting, smooth, dense, fine-grained, juicy flesh. The two don't agree on timing. Hedrick had it ripening a little after Seckel and keeping longer, and Purvis has it ripening before Seckel and keeping 8 to 12 weeks. It's good fresh, and Hedrick thought its "more sprightly flavor" made it better than Seckel for cooking.

Growth Habit and Spacing

Ours are on OHxF 87 semi-dwarf rootstock, which runs about 75% the size of a full size pear. Plan on about 15 feet between trees, 12 feet if you're committed to pruning, or up to 18 feet for more room. Hedrick praised the tree for its size, growth, productivity and health, saying the trees "rejoice in vigor and health as do those of almost no other variety." Purvis calls it extremely productive and says it was highly resistant to fire blight during a blight epidemic at his place in 2016.

Pollination

It needs a pollenizer. It blooms mid-season, so pair it with Flemish Beauty, Harrow Sweet, Honeysweet, Ubileen, Waterville or Seckel.

Cold Hardiness

Bob Purvis rates it hardy in zone 4. Hedrick praised its hardiness in one place but in another lumped it with pears that were "a little too tender to cold" for New York. We rate it a solid zone 3, hardy to -40F.

Image credit: watercolor of the ‘Vermont Beauty’ pear by Mary Daisy Arnold, USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Photos: “Vermont Beauty pear fruit, PI 541277 (pyr0591.001.fruit.2005)” by USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System, National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, Oregon, via USDA GRIN, public domain; “Vermont Beauty pear fruit, PI 541277 (pyr0592.001.fruit.2011)” by USDA-ARS National Plant Germplasm System, National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, Oregon, via USDA GRIN, public domain.