Q: I went to a nursery and they sold me a Bartlett pear. Doing my research after the fact, I found this pear is not recommended for Georgia. Why?

A: ‘Bartlett’ pear isn’t recommended because it gets fire blight disease so readily. Fire blight is uncurable. The only homeowner treatment is to prune out the blackened branch tips. ‘Orient’, ‘Baldwin’ ‘Carrick’, ‘Kieffer’ and ‘Warren’ pears are much more resistant to disease. The University of Georgia has a very nice guide to growing pears at bit.ly/UGApear.