Hi Kiger I've been in your shoes. It took a lot of work but I did find some very nice Asian Pears (all dwarfs) at 2 garden centers north of me. I purchased a Rajah and what was labeled to be a Daisui Li at Berns Garden center. I later discovered the second one was mislabeled as it bore actual pear shaped fruit. Original selling orchard (Hollybrook Orchards.com) says it couldn't be a Ya Li (only pear shaped Asian pear I can find record of) as they don't carry that variety so insist it's a European and I'm hoping to figure out which one this year. I checked back for more at Berns's this year and they had none. However I also found nice dwarf trees at Marvins Organic Gardens. Sadly they are currently closed for the season but I know when I bought my last tree there in Oct they still had a couple Hardy Giants (which I believe is another name for Olympic) plus one Hosui and a couple New Century (Shinseiki). Very nice dedicated folks, but trees a bit pricy. If you get on their mailing list sometime during the winter they offer a chance to buy gift certificates and actually send you twice the certificate you purchase. That means I bought $100 and they sent me 2 $100 certificates. So the Hardy Giant priced at $90 actually cost me $45. Other thing I want to mention is that I went to many many many well known reputable nurseries around the Cincinnati area looking for Asian Pears and was told by every single one of them (except Marvins) that Asian Pear was just a pear that bore fruit. I couldn't even get any of them to check a book to prove they were wrong. Oddly, even Berns where I actually bought 2 Asian pear trees told me the same thing. Luckily I checked their stock for myself and found the Rajah and Daisui Li there. Rajah is my favorite of the 4 varieties that have fruited for me. Hosui tastes slightly better but is a far more challenging tree to grow. (I prefer sweet over tart). Rajah has been a dream requiring minimal pruning and producing lots of yummy fruit. 20th Century I didn't care much for, but they say first couple years of fruit on young trees tend to be lower quality so I'm giving it a chance. The first 4 trees (yes, I count Daisui Li since the tree and leaves look way more Asian than European to me) were prob 4-5 feet and in 5 gallon pots. I planted in autumn and all 4 bore fruit the next year. I also put in Hardy Giant, Shinseiki, Drippin Honey and Chojuro this year but will prob only get fruit from the Hardy Giant as it is the only large one. I really hope this helps. I went nuts looking and calling a couple years back. Pam in cinti Here is a link that might be useful: Marvin's Organic Gardens

Hi AceOfSpades- Hmmm... I just went out and looked, and couldn't find any caterpillars (just a few aphids) on there. Do they only come out at night or something? I certainly do have oak trees around. I did put some tanglefoot around the base of all my trees this morning to control the ants who farm the aphids. Will the it help with that? (as in if they crawled up at night or something)? Since I usually bag my fruit, I don't have any other insecticides on hand except my crappy old Bonide fruit tree spray. It does say it will work on Âfruit tree leaf rollersÂ, but that label has lied to me before. Since I donÂt have much insecticide on hand, is there much else I can do? Thanks again, -Glenn P.S. I think itÂs tanglefoot ItÂs the clear sticky glue that came with the red sphere apple maggot traps. Anyway, I put it around the trees, and I see the ants lining up trying to figure out how to get around it.

Of the four Asians that I planted, back in '96: Chojuro is #1 - big, pretty fruits with great flavor, doesn't tend to overbear as much as the others. Shinko - close second. Heavy bearer, and needs thinning, but even without thinning the fruits size up pretty good(and will break branches), good flavor, but not as good as Chojuro. Niitaka - really overbears, and fruits will not size if you don't thin. Usually lacking in flavor - plenty of juice, but just sweet, with little character; they were good last year, but this year just so-so. Korean Giant/Don Bae - a real 'dog' for me. Never set more than 2 or 3 fruits in a year - they got huge, but were big watery, tasteless things. Kinda like eating a wet raw potato. I didn't shed a tear when fireblight killed it to the ground.

I agree with the above, probably Korean Giant. 'Dan Bae' is the Korean name for it, I believe. A most, most wonderful pear for me.