A pear to draw too?

After spending some time dragging a harrow around to start to knock down some pocket gopher mounds, I sat for several minutes watching our bartlett pear tree. There were no signs of bees visiting the flowers. Since we only have one pear tree, and there are lots of dandelions currently in bloom, our expectations for fruit production are significantly tempered. But, we haven't seen any bees visiting the dandelions either. If we hadn't become curious about a lack of bees, we probably would never have read the paragraph below from Garden Guides:

our bartlett pear tree in bloom

Photo by J. Harrington

The location of the pear tree in relation to other sources of nectar can play a dramatic role in whether or not the tree gets pollinated. The 15-percent sugar content of the nectar must compete with the 40-percent content of competing plants, including apples and dandelions. If there are not enough bees in the area, the bees will choose the higher-sugar-content plants before pollinating the pear trees. Pears will have a higher pollination success rate if it does not have to compete with these plants for the bees’ attention. For small orchards, consider adding one or two beehives for every acre of pear trees.

There's a very small apple tree near the pear, but  it hasn't produced any blossoms this year. We're pleased the pocket gophers haven't managed to kill it yet by eating the roots. Maybe we should take another chance and plant a combination pear tree and put wire mesh around the root ball.

Driving the tractor over grass instead of snow was a very pleasant change, even without much sunshine. If, tomorrow, the drive on mower deck cooperates, we'll get the back yard grass cut to start this year's season. There's still sticks to pick up and leaves to collect on the North side and the  front yard. We're slowly, very  slowly, beginning to learn the advantages of pacing ourselves. Maybe we are actually learning something by reading the Tao Te  Ching. For example:

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

― Lao Tzu

It will be interesting to watch and see what, if anything, grows this Summer. We've had decent crops op pears in previous years, but I'm not sure why or how we ended up with a

Green Pear Tree in September

By Freya Manfred

On a hill overlooking the Rock River
my father’s pear tree shimmers,
in perfect peace,
covered with hundreds of ripe pears
with pert tops, plump bottoms,
and long curved leaves.
Until the green-haloed tree
rose up and sang hello,
I had forgotten. . .
He planted it twelve years ago,
when he was seventy-three,
so that in September
he could stroll down
with the sound of the crickets
rising and falling around him,
and stand, naked to the waist,
slightly bent, sucking juice
from a ripe pear.

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