5/16/2021, 2:45 PM, lat/long 38°53’44.1″N, 77°16’07.7″W: Unidentified Fruiting Objects observed roughly 2 meters above ground level.
Pity this poor Moonglow pear tree. I bought her 14 years ago in a burst of ludicrous optimism. After all, at that time, Stark Brothers promised that she might bear fruit within three years.
Early on, I’d toss on a little fertilizer every spring. Count the blossoms. Maybe try to train a few branches. Just to show that I cared.
Life continued. My kids grew up and went off to college. Everyone in the older generation of my family passed away. My older brothers started having grandchildren.
Her pollination partner succumbed to fire blight and other diseases years ago. And yet she soldiered on, her roots stuck in the lousy low-lying clay soil of my back yard.
The years passed, with nary a pear in sight.
Our relationship began to sour right around the decade mark. Now instead of kind words, every spring I’d eye my pruning saw, then quote her a Bible verse or two regarding what happens to trees that don’t produce fruit. And ponder whether that space would be better devoted to something else.
Luckily, I was just too plain lazy to cut her down. For one thing, what was advertised as a 15′ tall semi-dwarf is now easily 30′ tall. Plus, I didn’t really need the space that badly.
And now it looks like sloth has been rewarded. Fourteen years after she went into the ground, all of a sudden, she’s covered in fruit.
Plant pears for your heirs.
