Onward
Comice-like flavour on an easier tree. The one thing to know is that it cannot partner Comice itself — a case where overlapping flowering groups give the wrong answer and the recorded pairing overrides it.
A cultivar of Pear. Everything on this page is about the cultivar; how to grow the species is on the plant page, and how big the tree gets is on the rootstock page.
Pollination
What this cultivar needs before it will set a crop.
- Self-fertility
- Needs a pollination partner
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
- Partner
- A compatible partner is required
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
- Flowering group
- 4 on the pear scale
source
Sourced guidancemoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear pollination groups
Checked 2026-08-13
- Ploidy
- diploid
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- NIAB — National Institute of Agricultural Botany: Cultivar ploidy records
Checked 2026-08-13
- Partners needed
- one
What that means in practice
Will not pollinate 'Doyenné du Comice' and is not pollinated by it: the two are closely related and mutually incompatible despite flowering together.
Partners for Onward, from the 8 pear cultivars GrowingHQ holds
Computed by the pollination engine from the flowering groups, ploidy and recorded pairings on each record — not a hand-written list. The scope is exactly what the heading says: these are the answers that exist in this catalogue, not the answers that exist.
| Cultivar | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Beth | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Concorde | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Conference | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Invincible | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Williams' Bon Chrétien | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 3 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
| Winter Nelis | compatible | Both flower at overlapping times (groups 4 and 4) and both produce viable pollen. |
The fruit
- Season
- Mid-season
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — season
Checked 2026-08-13
- Use
- Eating
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — use
Checked 2026-08-13
- Keeping
- Eat within days
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — storage
Checked 2026-08-13
The plant
- Vigour
- Average vigour
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — vigour
Checked 2026-08-13
- Habit
- Spreading
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — habit
Checked 2026-08-13
- Cropping
- Crops regularly
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pear cultivars — cropping
Checked 2026-08-13
On each rootstock
The size of the tree comes from the rootstock. What the cultivar contributes is a direction, in words — GrowingHQ does not multiply the range by a vigour factor, because no source supports the multiplier and the resulting number would look far more precise than the inputs are.
| Rootstock | Height | With this cultivar |
|---|---|---|
| Quince C | 250–350 cmsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | Onward is of average vigour, so the rootstock's range applies as published. |
| Quince A | 300–450 cmsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | Onward is of average vigour, so the rootstock's range applies as published. |
Full profiles for each of these are on the rootstock page.
Cultivar record reviewed 2026-08-13.