Most wild forms of the service pear originally come from North America, service pear are grown commercially primarily in Canada. For your own garden, there are different varieties of the pear tree with quite individually distinctive growth habit and edible fruits.

The copper rock pear turns coppery in autumn

The European Serviceberry

The European service pear (Amelanchier ovalis) occurs in various European countries at altitudes of around 2,000 meters. It is often planted to stabilize slopes, but usually cannot keep up optically with its North American relatives. This native rock pear species also forms attractive white flowers and provides a fruit yield that can be consumed in a variety of ways. Even without pruning, the European service pear rarely grows much higher than about three meters.

The Copper Rock Pear

The name of the so-called copper rock pear (Amelanchier lamarckii) refers to the particularly attractive red coloring of the leaves in autumn. The new shoots of the copper pear also show an impressive play of colours. This service pear is often planted alone and stands out due to its often multi-stemmed growth. This variety of pear is also relatively tolerant of pruning and can easily be raised to an attractive canopy shape by pruning.

The alder-leaved pear

The alder-leaved service pear (Amelanchier alnifolia) is sometimes also referred to as the alder service pear and originally comes from North America. This pear grows about two to four meters high and tends to multiply by forming short runners. Since the alder-leaved serviceberry is very versatile in terms of location, this species is found naturally from Alaska to Utah, in forests and on water banks with a wide variety of soil types. Since this variety also produces particularly magnificent fruits compared to some other types of service pear, it is planted in Canada in commercial form for harvesting and processing the fruits.

Wild, cultivated and noble varieties of the service pear

Many species of the service pear that are widespread around the world today actually go back to wild forms that occur in nature. But there are also varieties that have been created in professional horticulture through selection and other breeding methods. Sometimes, however, service pear trees are also grafted onto rowanberry rootstocks in order to combine special growth forms and plant characteristics. Before you plant a pear in your garden, you should ask yourself which of the following parameters is particularly important to you:

  • growth habit
  • cut tolerance
  • yield
  • growth height

tips

If you want to spend relatively little time caring for your service pear, you should first be able to choose between different species based on their natural growth height. Criteria for selecting the right variety can also be the color of the leaves or the usability of the fruit or the number of flowers.

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Trees