Hood River pear orchards in bloom with Mount Hood
— — a white sea under a snowed-in mountain.
Not only on a wall.
“The pear blocks open first, usually the second and third weeks of April, ahead of the cherries by a few days. Hood River grows the bulk of Oregon's Anjou and Bartlett pears in volcanic soils stepped down from Mount Hood's north flank. The bloom carries a quiet hum of orchard bees; the mountain holds white behind it for another two months.
Hood River pear orchards in bloom with Mount Hood, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Hood River County is the largest pear-growing district on the West Coast, with around 14,000 acres of orchard in the valley running south from the Columbia River. Mount Hood rises to 11,249 feet at the head of the valley, snowbound from October through July. The main pear varieties are Anjou, Bartlett, and Bosc, planted in alluvial soils above the Hood River itself. Most blocks sit between 500 and 1,500 feet of elevation, with Parkdale highest and Mosier lowest.
Pear bloom usually opens between April 10 and April 25, depending on degree-day accumulation that spring. The window holds about ten days. A frost below 28°F during open bloom can damage a third of a crop, which is why growers run smudge pots and wind machines through cold nights. Bartletts ripen in late August; Anjous and Boscs in September. Cold storage in the valley holds the Anjou crop through the following spring for steady year-round shipping.
The valley sits in a wind corridor between the Columbia Gorge and the north flank of Mount Hood. Spring afternoons bring cool air down from the snowfields above 8,000 feet, meeting marine air pushing east from Portland. The result is steady pollination weather most years, and a smell of basalt, wet grass, and pear blossom carried on a near-constant breeze. Honeybee hives are trucked into the blocks each April from as far away as the Sacramento Valley.