Try this link, or just Google 'Heirloom Pear Trees'; quite a few links come up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Heirloom Orchardist

I remember the article in the "Oklahoma Living" magazine that we receive monthly courtesy of our electric co-op. I read it in the early 2000s. When I read the article I made a mental note of the name of the pear, and tried to find it for sale. I found the tree in what was then the current catalog of either Gurney's or Henry Field's and resolved to order one "next year". Well, when next year rolled around, it had been dropped from the catalog. I always regretted not ordering a tree or two right away when I found in in the catalog. It sounded like a really terrific variety.

The name is "Turnbull Giant". I've linked its page from the ARS-GRIN accession list.

If you google the words Turnbull Giant Pear, you'll find some discussions about this pear over on the Fruit and Orchard Forum here at Garden Web. I saw them but didn't go read them. Maybe you can find someone there who grows this tree. Googling the name also pulls up an article from the Christian Science Monitor that relates the same basic info that was in the article in the "Oklahoma Living" co-op publication.
Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Turnbull Giant Pear

My first college roommate's name was Turnbull, so that would be fun to have. LOL Sounds amazing anyway.

OKIDAWN: Thank you so very much. This has been on my mind for many years and now have to just find that Turnbull Giant Pear. I really am grateful for this information a regret of mine also for waiting.
Now I remember that name and in the catalog also....alas no longer grown by them. The master gardner said if they arent in their orchard they may have sold the rights to another grower. The quest continues.

Here is a picture of the fruit from the link:

http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/search.pl?accid= PI+617642

wonder why they took it on the ground and not on the tree?

You're welcome. I never forgot that pear because it isn't often we see Oklahoma heirlooms available from mainstream nurseries.

If you do the Google search on the name you'll see a nursery still carries the tree and sells them. I glanced at it yesterday but didn't email or call the nursery to see if it has any available this spring. I think it was Hidden Springs Nursery.

I don't know why they took the photo on the ground instead of on the tree....maybe they just wanted a good close up of the fruit with the darker soil beneath it for contrast instead of one hanging on the tree. Sometimes pear trees are not exactly the prettiest tree on the block.....except when in bloom.

I had to search for the name of this fruit yesterday, because in my head I had "mis-remembered" it as Trumbull instead of Turnbull. When I read your post, I remembered it all so clearly....lol....as Trumbull!

Dawn

Better Picture of this pear on the tree. the quest continues..

Finally found a source listed on their website:
Hidden Springs Nursery (931) 268-2592
Cookeville, TN

http://hiddenspringsnursery.com/plants.html#Pear

Pear: 2-4' $12.00 each.
"Turnbull" - Large fruit with a crisp, juicy apple-like flavor. Long bloom period.

Here is a link that might be useful: Turnbull Giant Pear Tree

Daniel,

I see someone answered you already, but I knew immediately when you said an OK pear was discovered in a field. I bought one from Henry Fields around 1990 and planted it at our first home in NC. Sad for me, but I was transferred by the military in 1992 and while oversees, my husband also received orders and had to sell our home. I never saw the tree again. I think about it still today and wonder if it survived the years and the string of owners on our old home. Two summers ago, I looked it up since Henry Fields no longer carries them and ordered one from Hidden Springs Nursery. So, my quest has been a lot like yours except that I have actually tasted one. In 1992, before I was transferred, the tree bore a single pear sooner than it was supposed to bear. It was such a beauty and I would check it every day when I came home from work, dreaming of when it would be ripe and ready to eat. It swelled to a very large pear, and as I began to think of picking it soon, I came home one day and when I checked, a bird had drilled a mouth-sized hole into the pear. I was heart-broken. However, since the rest of the pear was undamaged, I took it inside, cut off the damaged part and washed it thoroughly. It was the best tasting pear I have ever eaten with the possible exception of the Korean pears that I have since eaten. It is the only North American pear I have tasted that comes near to the quality of the Korean Pear (in my humble opinion). I now have one Asian Pear at my current home and one Turnbull Pear. Neither are bearing yet. My Turnbull Pear was in good shape, but small when it arrived from Hidden Springs Nursery (who did ship in mid-year, unlike some nurseries). In the last two years it has grown well and is now about 6 ft. tall. I look forward to that first wonderful pear experience. It has been over 20 years since I tasted one of these pears.

Looks like pears in Korea! I remember the Korean kids I taught being mystified by pictures of pears in books we would read and study...they thought it was a joke because "pears are round teacher, not that!"

Okievegan, the first time I saw Asian pear trees in a nursery, I looked at the tag, saw the round fruit and wondered to myself "are Asian pears actually apples ?". Asian pears grow well in this part of the country and I've always wondered if Trumbull Giant is an Asian variety.

Dawn

There you go again Dawn. It's Turnbull. LOL

Planted 2 from Hidden Springs nursery TN 3 years ago. This year they bloomed. pretty excited to see the fruit.

Yay, Daniel! That is so exciting. I wondered if you bought them and planted them. I hope you'll remember to come back and tell us what you think of the fruit after you get to harvest them and eat them.

Dawn

sure will

I had MANY blooms on my Turnbull Pear tree this year and was hoping for good pollination and my first year of fruit. Unfortunately, one day after the blooms burst fully open, we had snow and wind and temps in the low 20s (wind chills in the teens). I lost all my Turnbull Pear and my plum (Shiro) blooms to the late winter weather. I had previously lost my Nanking Cherry blooms the same way. It's been a crazy year for weather again, and will be another year with no fruit for me. Hope things turn out better for you. I would love to hear that you get fruit this year.