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Insight Horizon Media

How big does a medlar tree grow?

Author

Daniel Rodriguez

Published Feb 25, 2026

How big does a medlar tree grow?

Normally, grafted medlar trees grow to a height of 3m / 10ft and a width of 4m / 13ft, a very nice size for many gardens.

What does medlar look like?

Medlars are a hardy fruit that look like a cross between a small apple and a rosehip. When ripe, they’re hard and green. They’re picked at this stage, but aren’t edible until they’ve become half rotten or ‘bletted’, when they turn brown and soft.

Where do Medlars grow?

Medlars are native to Europe, and perhaps originated in the Caucuses of Asia Minor. They grow in a wide range of temperate climate habitats, often at the edge of woodlands. The Assyrians first cultivated medlars and introduced them to Greece. The trees have been cultivated as an ornamental since Medieval times.

What is medlar used for?

Medler Tablet is used to treat common cold symptoms. It provides temporary relief from stuffiness in the nose. It also helps to relieve allergy symptoms like runny nose and watery eyes.

Are medlar trees Hardy?

Medlar tree care The wonderful Medlar tree will bear beautiful blossom and the eccentric little fruits. Hardy, undemanding and slow-growing, medlar trees can outlive their owners by hundreds of years. Several examples in England are at least six centuries old. Medlar trees have spectacular autumn colours.

How do you look after a medlar tree?

Pruning medlar Pruning will let you ensure it takes up only the space you plan for it in your garden landscape. Heavy pruning every 5 to 8 years is better than yearly trimming. The best season to prune is winter but during non-freezing weather. Removing dead and diseased branches whenever you notice them.

What is a medlar tree?

Mespilus germanica, known as the medlar or common medlar, is a large shrub or small tree in the rose family Rosaceae. The fruit of this tree, also called medlar, has been cultivated since Roman times, and is unusual in being available in winter, and in being eaten when bletted.

Can you eat medlar skin?

So the medlar remains a forgotten fruit. A ready fruit is dark brown, wrinkled and soft or mushy. They will ripen indoors on a plate, bottom end down. To eat raw, peel the stalk end, hold the crown and squish out the fruit.

Is medlar a quince?

A relative of the quince and hawthorn, the medlar (Mespilus germanica) makes an attractive tree of weeping habit with large white flowers. The fruit resembles a large, russety rose hip and is eaten when ‘bletted’, i.e. partially rotted.

How do you grow medlar trees?

Medlar Growing Guide

  1. Miscellaneous ●
  2. Deep, fertile, well-drained soil.
  3. Full sun or partial shade.
  4. Yes.
  5. Mulch with well-rotted organic matter in spring.
  6. Prepare a large hole by breaking up the soil and adding plenty of well-rotted organic matter.
  7. Stake trees for the first 3-4 years.

What’s a medlar tree?

How do you pick Medlars?

Harvesting Medlar Fruit Any time from a week to three weeks later, the fruit will have bletted. The skin will have browned and possibly become slightly wrinkled, and the fruit will be soft to the touch. Eat as soon as it’s ready, as this seems to be when it’s at its most tangy and citrus.

What does medlar tree mean?

What is a Medlar? The medlar ( Mespilus germanica) is a large shrub or tree that produces fruits in the late fall and early winter . It’s a member of the rose family, which makes sense because the fruits are reminiscent of large rose hips. The fruit is said to taste like apple butter, with hints of cinnamon, and vanilla.

What does wild medlar tree mean?

Wild medlar is a deciduous tree of up to 3 m to 7 m in height with a short trunk and hanging branchlets. The branchlets are covered with short, woolly hairs.

What is medlar fruit?

The medlar fruit is a pome (after the Latin word for fruit: pōmum ), the type of fruit produced by flowering plants in the subfamily Maloideae of the family Rosaceae . The best-known example of a pome is the apple, but other pomes are cotoneaster, hawthorn, loquat , medlar, pear , pyracantha , toyon, quince, rowan,…