Common Wild Pear Tree Saplings

Pyrus Communis Hedge Pear Plants

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Pyrus communis is the native, Wild Pear tree. It is a great hedge plant and produces small, edible fruit that are good for wildlife. It will reach 15 metres if it grows freely as a tree.

It flowers heavily in April when the leaves are still small and pale green, which all looks great together. The mature leaves are glossy, rich green. The small, edible fruit are popular with birds and squirrels, but if you can get your hands on them they are usually sweet and quite delicious - this is a wild tree, so the fruit will vary. If the pears aren't sweet when fresh, use them for jam. The autumn foliage is orange & gold and if you are clipping these plants as a hedge, the leaves will stay on the branches for some time. Although it isn't thorny, its short twigs have pointed ends.

You can buy eating pear trees here, as well as ornamental Chanticleer pears and weeping pears.

Bareroot hedge plants are only delivered during winter (Nov-March).
All our hedge plants are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground (the roots aren't measured).

Spacing a Pear hedge:

Plant at 3 plants per metre, 33 apart.
It is typically used in a mixed native hedge.

Did You Know?

Uncultivated pears are also called Pyrus pyraster. The history of the common pear is hard to trace. There are records of a cultivated pear growing in the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh, Iraq, in 700 BC (note, that is over 2000 years before Europeans started breeding modern pears). The common pear we have today is believed to be hybrid of more ancient European and Asian trees, but with all the cultivated pear seeds that have escaped from orchards over the centuries, it is impossible to tell apart the really wild pear trees and the rogue pears that have bred with their wild cousins. Pear breeding in Europe probably began in the 1500's, but the first proper records are from about 1610, written by Jean Robin, King Henri III's fruit tree gardener.

Growing Pyrus communis plants:
Pyrus communis will grow well in any soil with average drainage and love heavy clay. They are very hardy and quite shade tolerant.

Prepare your site before planting:
Native hedge plants like Pyrus communis are very tough. The only essential preparation is to kill the weeds in a strip a metre wide along the planting site: improving the soil should not be necessary. If your soil is exceptionally poor and dry, then digging in some well rotted manure and/or compost is worthwhile.

Watch our video on how to plant a country hedge for full details.
Remember to water establishing plants during dry weather for at least a year after planting.

Hedge Planting Accessories:
Prepare your site for planting by killing the weeds and grass with Neudorff WeedFree Plus.
You can buy a hedge planting pack with sheets of mulch fabric and pegs to hold it down.
If you are planting in an area with rabbit and/or deer, you will need to use a plastic spiral guard for each plant, supported by a bamboo cane.
If your soil quality is poor, we recommend using mycorrhizal "friendly fungi" on the roots of new trees and shrubs.
You can also improve your soil with bonemeal organic fertiliser and Growmore.

After you have planted your Pyrus communis hedge, the most important thing to do is water it in dry weather. You will also need to weed around the plants. Watering should be thorough, so the ground is soaked. Let the soil almost dry out before watering again. Watering & weeding will be necessary for at least a year after planting.

Trimming Country hedge plants:
Pyrus communis is a vigorous, native hedging plant that benefits from being cut back hard right after planting, as shown in the country hedge planting video. In the following years, your young hedge should be trimmed lightly once in winter, until it is mature. When it is fully grown, you can clip it at anytime.

Special notes on caring for Pyrus communis hedges:
Pyrus communis is a very tough hedge plant that shouldn't need special attention once it has established. If you didn't use a mulch fabric, it is beneficial to mulch around the base of the hedge each year.

Hygiene & Diseases:
Dead, damaged or diseased wood can be pruned off as soon as it appears.
Disinfect your pruning tools between every cut if there is any sign of disease.
Burn or dispose of any diseased material, do not compost it.