Which pear trees grow well together? - Ask Extension
I am looking to plant a few pear trees in my yard. I'm really struggling with how to select good varieties that will be disease-resistant (for example...
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Which pear trees grow well together? #922766
Asked December 09, 2025, 3:03 PM EST
I am looking to plant a few pear trees in my yard. I'm really struggling with how to select good varieties that will be disease-resistant (for example, fire blight, but also other diseases like scab, etc.) and will also successfully pollinate each other. I have looked at numerous different websites, and each one seems to have different and somewhat contradicting information on which varieties would grow well together and pollinate each other to give a maximum fruit yield, as well as which varieties would grow well in my location (I think I'm somewhere between zone 7b and 8a). I would prefer to not have to apply any pestacides if possible I would really appreciate some insight on what would grow well together!
Anne Arundel CountyMaryland
Expert Response
The cultivar list on our Growing Apple and Pear Trees in a Home Garden does include Asian and European pears that have disease resistance, but it's not an exhaustive list, and we don't have cross-pollination information. Generally, you can find pollinator compatibility charts in the web catalogs of fruit tree nurseries, but if they contradict each other, that might be related to where they are being grown (how weather is impacting bloom time, if they aren't overlapping in flowering period enough). Or, there are only listing cultivars that they sell, and listing which pairings work within that list; since nurseries don't overlap completely in stock offerings, their pollination lists may vary.
Fortunately, pollination compatibility in pears is not as complex as with apples; any pear cultivar that isn't pollen-sterile (having triploid genetics) should be able to pollinate another cultivar as long as their flowering overlaps. Catalogs should note which cultivars fall into that triploid/sterile category, since they're in the minority.