Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker - Pear Blossom Flower Fairy

Sing, sing, sing, you blackbirds!
Sing, you beautiful thrush!
It's Spring, Spring, Spring; so sing, sing, sing,
From dawn till the stars say "hush".

See, see, see the blossom
On the Pear Tree shining white!
It will fall like snow, but the pears will grow
For people's and birds' delight.

Build, build, build, you chaffinch;
Build, you robin and wren,
A safe warm nest where your eggs may rest;
Then sit, sit, sit, little hen!

Pear trees are slow growing, deciduous trees that can grow to as tall as 80 feet.  Originally found in Eurasia and North Africa they are related to the apple.  The pear tree has been cultivated from early times for its sweet, juicy fruit.  They are well suited for coastal areas with sandy soil requiring good drainage in a sunny spot.  Propagate from seed or by grafting.  For best fruit bearing they must cross-pollinate.

Pears are one of the world's oldest cultivated and beloved fruits. In 5,000 B.C., Feng Li, a Chinese diplomat, abandoned his responsibilities when he became consumed by grafting peaches, almonds, persimmons, pears and apples as a commercial venture. In The Odyssey, the Greek poet laureate Homer lauds pears as a "gift of the gods." Pomona, goddess of fruit, was a cherished member of the Roman Pantheon and Roman farmers documented extensive pear growing and grafting techniques. Thanks to their versatility and long storage life, pears were a valuable and much-desired commodity among the trading routes of the ancient world. Evident in the works of Renaissance Masters, pears have long been an elegant still-life muse for artists. In the 17th century a great flourishing of modern pear variety cultivation began taking place in Europe. And in popular culture, the pear tree was immortalized alongside a partridge in the 18th-century Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. 

Early colonists brought the first pear trees to America's eastern settlements where they thrived until crop blights proved too severe to sustain widespread cultivation. Fortunately, the pear trees brought west to Oregon and Washington by pioneers in the 1800's thrived in the unique agricultural conditions found in the Pacific Northwest.