Today the first cuttings of the ancient, but original pear varieties from the Perenallee GA of Swieten Tuinbouwschool in Frederiksoord will be planted in the ground. Former practical teacher Harry van Noort has been restoring the neglected garden from 1884 with the Proef working group since 2020.
Almost 140 years ago, the first trees were planted in the Perenallee. Of the thirty pear varieties, only fifteen were left. Time for action for Harry van Noort from Diever and a number of his former colleagues. “It touched my heart. All those old espaliered trees. Such an old element of the horticultural school of which only a few remnants remain after all this time, I think that is a great pity.”
The pear allee, also called the pear pipe, was a characteristic element of the horticultural school in Frederiksoord, Van Noort explains. After the 1990s the garden fell into disrepair. “Most students have very good memories of it. The pears were not allowed to be picked, but they were. The pear line also remained in place for a very long time over the course of a hundred years.”
But in recent years little was left of those originally planted trees. And so Van Noort and his former colleagues delved into the yearbooks of former students. “They are from the late 19th century and those yearbooks show what was planted and what expansions took place. From that you can conclude what was planted and what varieties were there.”
Van Noort and his former colleagues also had grafts from the original trees. “We grafted three hundred trees. A lot of varieties that were there, but also some more recent varieties.”