“I thank Lady Peter for the pear kernels & am often thinking what to send her for A requitall”
Thus wrote the great American botanist John Bartram of Philadelphia to his English friend and business partner Peter Collinson on April 1, 1739.
Lady Petre (or Peter) was the wife of Lord Peter, a very wealthy young landowner who was Bartram’s angel investor in Europe. Before becoming connected with Lord Peter, Bartram had been struggling to succeed at his business endeavor, selling boxes of American bulbs, seeds, and plants to Europeans fascinated with the previously unknown species of the New World.
Imagine seeing a Southern Magnolia for the first time, or a Sugar Maple in blazing fall color. It’s hard to overestimate the plant lust these newly discovered species created on the parts of the landed gentry, many of whom had thousands of acres waiting to be naturalistically filled with plants in the then-popular English landscape style.
Occasionally Lord Peter would send Bartram a few things in return- the seeds from his wife’s favorite sugar pear among them.
By 1763 Bartram’s pear tree had borne fruit. This photo, taken at Bartram’s Garden in 1917, shows the Lady Petre Pear growing near the back door. I’ve come across a very few explanations why, but it was common to plant pear trees near the kitchen door, and the long lived trees are still seen in the backyards of some very old houses in Philadelphia and south of here.
The only other known mature Lady Peter Pear tree in America (and maybe anywhere) grows in my friend Joel’s beautiful garden in Germantown. It’s located on the site of the 18th century garden of Melchior Meng, who kept a botanical collection there. The tree, as custom dictates, is smack in front of the kitchen door. In this photo the door is hidden behind the trunk.
Joel knows how much I admire his tree, and this week he brought me four pears, before the squirrels chewed them. I haven’t tasted them yet, because I am still admiring their shape and color. Slightly larger than an egg, these pears are redolent of the 18th century.
One’s getting a soft spot, so I’ll probably try them tonight. You can be sure I’ll save the kernels, just like Lady Petre did. I’ll plant a few, and to honor tradition I’ll send some others in a tiny box to a friend who appreciates the story of this tree as much as I do.
UPDATE: I ate the pears. Either I’m a suggestible person, or this was the best pear I have ever had. Juicy and thin-skinned, the flavor was complex, and it wasn’t watery. More like a good apple, or even wine. And I did save the seeds.
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I thank Lady Juday for the slice enjoyed today in good company wtih whom we learned of two other Lady Petre Pear trees. We do enjoy the juicey bits of history.
Three ‘Lady Petre’ pears were planted at the new Bartram’s Garden Orchard in fall 2011 and another at Morris Arboretum this spring, all grafted from Joel’s tree in Germantown. Glad to hear they taste good, wasn’t sure how reliable a judge of flavor John Bartram was!
Thanks for the census. Do you know of any other mature LPP’s anywhere else? I wonder if any exist in England. And Phil, you would be the perfect person to reintroduce the tree back into Philadelphia gardens. Do you know how the Bartram’s and Morris trees were propagated?
Last year at the Wyck food symposium, I met Laura Holbert, who said she did the grafting of the Lady Petre Pear in fall 2010, I think for the Morris.
Bartram’s Garden received 20 trees of the Lady Petre pear in 2003, from Mike Tomlinson, who once had an heirloom fruit nursery in Elverson, PA. He first tried grafting from the Germantown tree, but failed. So then took scions from a younger clone of the Germantown tree in Chevy Chase, MD. [Those grafts were done by White Oak Nursery in Strasburg, PA on semi-dwarf rootstocks.] We sold or dontated most of those 20 trees, keeping two at Bartram’s Garden. [One of those 2003 trees went to Peter Hatch at Monticello.]
It took ten years for one of the 2003 grafts to first bear fruit at Bartram’s Garden. So I expect there will be some wait for the new orchard pears to bear fruit.
I doubt there are any examples of the Lady Petre Pear in Europe. But the Lady Petre pear is likely a seedling of a French “butter” pear, so similar or related varieties could certainly be found.
There should be other, old examples of the Lady Petre Pear around Philadelphia, but I’ve never heard of any.
Wonderful post!
Yes juicy read!