The highlights
- Expertly trained into a low-growing shape
- Includes one of the best old varieties
- Poach in red wine, cinnamon and cloves
- Moreish pears, charming blossoms
Description
- If you haven’t got much space but you still want to grow your own pear tree, then a stepover is a brilliant option. These trees are trained to grow close to the ground, like a single-tiered espalier, and offer a highly ornamental way to edge a veg or flower bed without the risk of any sun-blocking taking place
- ‘Concorde’ holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit, boasts pears with truly exceptional taste and reliably produces large crops of fruit every year
- ‘Conference’ is *the* classic dessert pear variety, universally loved for its exceptional taste (both when eaten fresh and used in cooking)
- ‘Williams’ Bon Chrétien’ is a wonderful variety, first bred over 250 years ago, boasting juicy, rich pears and cropping very reliably
- Proper training and pruning is important to keep your stepover tree’s shape. Fortunately for you, our growers have done the hard part of the initial training for you!
- You still need to keep on top of maintenance, though, so check out our article, Stepover Apple Trees: The Complete Guide, to find out what to do – don’t worry, the same principles apply for pear trees as they do apple trees
- Bare root stepover trees arrive in a Y shape with two leading branches, which you’ll need to gradually train in stages into a T shape on a horizontal frame
