Looking for an Apple Day event near you? There is a list of events, by county, on the Common Ground website (the originators of Apple Day). The site is www.commonground.org.uk

 

PEAR DOYENNÉ DE COMICE

As with apples, the growing of pears, plums, greengages, cherries, quince etc. in Britain, both commercially and privately, has been in serious decline for many years. Most British consumed fruit now comes from thousands of miles away, with little choice as to the variety we get. Worse still, is the fact that this fruit is picked before it is ripe, in order to prolong its life and travel time. Durability is deemed more important than taste - tomatoes are tested in the same laboratory that tests car bumpers. The taste of a supermarket pear, plum or cherry does not even approach the richness of the real thing, fresh from the tree. Consider also the chemical treatments of modern commercial fruit, to give it the "perfect complexion" and inhibit its natural ripening. Organic growing meets part of the problem, but most organic fruit is still imported, picked too early, transported long distances and lacking in variety. From Norman times Britain was a major fruit grower, and by Victorian times it probably had more varieties than any other country. The decline in the last half of the 20th century is now going into reverse and, as more people plant trees and revisit the lost flavours and textures of the past, the greater will be the pressure for change upon the supermarkets.

ROOTSTOCKS
Pear, Plum/Gage, Cherry, Quince and Medlar trees are grafted on to different types of rootstock. This is primarily to contain the natural vigour of the tree to more manageable proportions. Unlike with apples, the scope to use a rootstock to produce a dwarf tree is limited, and these trees cannot be "contained" to the same degree. Nevertheless, it allows some choice of vigour when deciding what style or shape of training is wanted. Our pears, quinces and medlars are grafted on Quince C, our plums/gages on St Julien A or Pixie and our cherries on Colt or Gisela 5 rootstocks. Mulberries and grapevines are ungrafted. Hazel (cob, filbert) and Currant varieties have now been added to the list; these are ungrafted.

 

GAGE BRYANSTON GAGE

CHERRY MORELLO

CATALOGUES
The Bernwode Plants Fruit catalogue contains full details about varieties of apples, pears, plums/gages, quinces, cherries, nuts, mulberries, medlars, grapevines and currants. It also has notes about rootstocks, pollination groups, and choosing varieties.

The catalogue can be ordered with a credit card or debit card from this site; simply click on 'Catalogue' above and follow the instructions.


 

PRODUCT AND PRICES
Trees are container-grown, sold as 1 or 2 year old trees. The 1-year olds are in 4 litre deep pots, the 2-year olds in 7 litre deep pots. 2-year old trees are only available for collection. Container grown trees have certain advantages. Trees lifted from the open ground in winter and sold bare-rooted (the usual way at other fruit tree nurseries) often suffer significant damage to the fibrous root system. This checks the growth of the tree for a year or possibly two, while the root system regrows. With our container-grown trees, growth is continuous. The added benefit is that container grown trees can be planted at any time of year, not just in midwinter when bare root trees must be lifted, while dormant. All 1-year old trees are priced at £16.00. (Hazels, Vines and Currants are all £8.90 each in 4 litre pots.) They can be bought at the nursery, at any time of year, during normal opening hours - see the homepage - and during the closed winter months by arrangement. We also operate a courier delivery service. If trees cannot be collected from the nursery (and bear in mind that they are not so tall and inflexible that they cannot fit in the footwells of most cars) we will send trees out. The normal courier delivery charge is £15.00 for the first 4 trees and £1.75 for each tree thereafter. For northern Scotland, and non-mainland deliveries the courier charge is higher. Please enquire. We do not send trees outside the UK

MEDLAR NOTTINGHAM

 

The Traditional Fruit Varieties Available From Bernwode Plants - All Year Round
 
PEARS

PLUMS/GAGES
DAMSONS

CHERRIES QUINCE
       

Beth
Beurré Bedford
Beurré D'Amanlis
Beurré Hardy
Beurré Superfin
Black Worcester
Blaze
Capability Pear
Clapp's Favourite
Conference
Cranford Pear
Double de Guerre
Doyenné De Boussoch
Doyenné De Comice
Duchesse D'Angoulème
Durondeau
Émile D'Heyst
Fertility Improved
Fondante D'Automne
Forelle
Glou Morceau
Hessle
Jargonelle
Joséphine De Malines
Laxtons' Foremost
Louise Bonne Of Jersey
Maréchal De La Cour
Marguérite Marrilat
Maxstoke Nibbler
Michaelmas Nelis
Nouveau Poiteau
Passe Crassane
Pitmaston Duchess
Puddledock Pear
Robin
Swan's Egg
Thompson's
Triomphe De Vienne
Uvedale's St Germain
Vicar Of Winkfield
Warden
Warpsgrove Pear
Williams Bon Chrétien
Winter Nelis

Aylesbury Prune
Belle de Louvain
Blue Impératrice
Bryanston Gage
Cambridge Gage
Coe's Golden Drop
Count Althann's Gage
Denniston's Superb
Early Rivers
Early Transparent Gage
Farleigh Damson
French Victoria
Giant Prune
Golden Transparent
Jefferson Gage
Kirke's Blue
Langley Bullace
Laxtons' Gage
Lodge Prune
Manaccan
Marjorie's Seedling
McLaughlin's Gage
Merryweather-Damson
Mirabelle De Nancy
North Hills -Damson
Old Greengage
Oullin's Gage
Reine Claude De Bavay
Reine Claude Violette
Rivers Blue Prolific
Shropshire Prune-Damson
Stewkley Red
Tram Hill-Damson
Victoria Plum
Warwickshire Drooper
White Damson

Alba Heart
Archduke
Bedford Prolific 'A'
Bigarreau Gaucher
Black Eagle
Black Oliver
Bradbourne Black
Cassia
Circassian
Dangler
Early Rivers
Empress Eugenie
Frogmore Early
Goblin
Lester
May Duke
Merton Glory
Morello
Noir De Guben
Prestwood Black
Ronalds' Heart
Smoky Dun
Strawberry Heart
Waterloo
White Heart A

Champion
Little Ickford Pineapple
Little Ickford Small
Meech's Prolific
Portugal
Vranja

 

 

 

PLUS:-

MEDLARS (Mespilus Germanica 'Nottingham' and 'Senlac')
MULBERRIES (Morus Nigra)
NECTARINE - Early Rivers
GRAPEVINES (Vitis Vinifera) - Black Hamburgh, Fragola (Strawberry Vine), Gewurztraminer, Lady Downe's Seedling, Leon Millot, Madeleine Angevin, Maréchal Joffre, Muscat Hamburgh, Muscat Of Alexandria, Pinot Blanc, Seyval, Shobdon White Dessert,Triomphe D'Alsace.
HAZEL - Wild Hazel, Butler Cob, Cosford Cob, Longue D'Espagne (Kent Cob), Purple Hazel (Corylus Maxima Purpurea), Red Filbert, White Filbert
CURRANTS - White Versailles (Whitecurrant), Red Lake (Redcurrant), Blackcurrants - Baldwin, Boskoop Giant, Laxtons' Giant, Wellington XXX