Comments on: Pear & Cherry notes http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2003/03/26/pear-cherry-notes/ Hardy plants for hardy souls Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:24:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bev Koopman http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2003/03/26/pear-cherry-notes/comment-page-1/#comment-26 Bev Koopman Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.coldclimategardening.com/2003/03/26/pear-cherry-notes/#comment-26 Peaches, pears, plums and cherries. The images of my grandfathers' California orchard run through my head as I plan a small, backyard orchard for my own children's future memories (and my dessert table!). As I research cultivars, Baleton and Morello cherries come out on top for flavor when cooking, as rated by chef's online reviews. Nurseries are inconclusive about their hardiness, some rating them zone 4 and others rating them zone 5. What field experience do our home-growers have with these varieties? Summersweet pears are highly touted by the University of Minnesota, but since they benefit from the royalties, I would appreciate more objective critiques. Likewise for Honeycrisp apples. Everything I read exalts the virtues of this apple, in texts that repeat the U of M's press release almost word for word. Performance, disease resistance and especially growers' impressions of the flavor of these cultivars when eaten fresh, in recipes and after storage or preservation would be VERY helpful for those of us in the planning stages of our gardens. Peaches, pears, plums and cherries. The images of my grandfathers’ California orchard run through my head as I plan a small, backyard orchard for my own children’s future memories (and my dessert table!).

As I research cultivars, Baleton and Morello cherries come out on top for flavor when cooking, as rated by chef’s online reviews. Nurseries are inconclusive about their hardiness, some rating them zone 4 and others rating them zone 5. What field experience do our home-growers have with these varieties?

Summersweet pears are highly touted by the University of Minnesota, but since they benefit from the royalties, I would appreciate more objective critiques. Likewise for Honeycrisp apples. Everything I read exalts the virtues of this apple, in texts that repeat the U of M’s press release almost word for word.

Performance, disease resistance and especially growers’ impressions of the flavor of these cultivars when eaten fresh, in recipes and after storage or preservation would be VERY helpful for those of us in the planning stages of our gardens.

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