Medlar leaves

Of all the fruit trees that I planted, the one I've been keeping the closest eye on is the medlar. The leaf buds have been getting gradually bigger over the last few weeks, but over the last day or two they've finally started to open! You can see the tree in the picture below:

My Iranian medlar from Keepers Nursery

And here's a close-up of the leaves unfurling: 

The medlar is leafing out!

Why the medlar specifically? Well, fruit trees take up quite a lot of room (12.5 m2 if the diameter is 4m), so the rest of fruit tree varieties were carefully selected according to a variety of more practical criteria:

1. picking time
2. disease resistance
3. yield
4. reliability
5. storage duration for the fruit
6. ability to fertilise other trees I ordered

Of course, each one was a compromise, but the main emphasis was on usefulness and reliability.

The medlar was a bit different. I know that I like jelly made from the fruit, although I've not tried it raw. In fact, I love the jelly - I would say it is much better than quince jelly, which seems to have the better reputation in general. But in most of the world it is not grown much any more for its fruit, so finding reliable numbers for yield is quite hard. Does it provide more than an apple tree in its place would, or a pear tree? Does the fruit store as well as a late-keeping apple? Doubtful on both counts. But I don't really care too much, because out of the trees the medlar was my 'something slightly different and interesting'.

So what does the medlar offer? In addition to the unusual and not widely available fruit (unless you're from Iran or Europe a few centuries ago), it is quite a pretty tree with zigzagging branches and a lot of colour in autumn. Despite its origin around the Middle East, it also has a history in this country, so it's something to talk about when people ask what it is.

The 'Iranian' variety which I've planted is from Keepers Nursery. The family who run the nursery are Iranian themselves, where the fruit is still quite popular, and have a relatively large range of different varieties. Their 7 varieties beats the usual 1 - 3 of other fruit tree nurseries. Here's what they say about the Iranian medlar, which they introduced themselves:

Iranian Medlar is a dessert variety introduced by Keepers Nursery. It originates from the wild medlars which grow in the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran. It is widely grown in Iran where it is a traditional and popular late autumn and early winter fruit.

The fruit is slightly smaller than most other varieties of medlar and rather more conical in shape. It is the one of the best flavoured medlars. In common with other medlars the fruit has a brown russet skin. The flesh is quite hard and green until it is fully ripe when it turns brown in colour and becomes soft. It is quite sweet with a texture and flavour similar to a thick apple puree. It ripens earlier than other varieties. It can be left on the tree to ripen in November or picked prior to ripening and allowed to ripen in storage. The ripe fruit can be frozen and eaten fresh after defrosting.

The tree is compact with a bushy growth habit. It crops very well and does not have any major disease or pest problems. It has attractive large white blossom in May. Unlike most fruit trees medlar blossom opens after the leaves.

I chose this variety because I do want to try eating the fruit raw, so good flavour is attractive, because they say it is compact (Medlars tend to be spreading trees), and because well, again it's something different. As far as I know, no other nursery has taken up selling the Iranian medlar variety yet, preferring to stick to the more well known Nottingham and/or Royal varieties. Of course, the Iranian variety might not live up to the description,  but I guess I'll find out in a few years.