A Centennial Pear Tree in Our Garden
Gardeners of the Köne Kesir village in Nohur, Magtymguly etrap, Balkan velayat, cultivate large fruit pear trees that bears fruit well in the favourable climate of the dry subtropical regions of Turkmenistan. The owner of the oldest pear tree, a village resident, a geography teacher at school 18, local historian-enthusiast Baymuhamed Ashirov says: “The first trees of this unusual pear variety of impressive size were planted in the southern section of the Turkmen-Iranian border in 1912, on the banks of the Sumbar River near the frontier post. A few years later, the trees became orphaned. At that time, the Zähmet horticultural farm was established in Köne Kesir village, where my grandfather Kurbansahat Hudayberdiyev – a born gardener who worked with diligence and love and received high yields of crops, lived for many years. Whatever he took on, he succeeded. In those years, my grandfather ‘fired up’ with the idea of getting one of the trees growing near the frontier post for our spacious garden near the house in a quiet rural street – the fruit tree was obviously not a simple one – it produced surprisingly large pears without any care.
