The curse of the Bradford Pear: Column

[elleng]

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- All those white blooming trees you see everywhere...do you think they are pretty? If you knew what they actually represent, you would choke on your morning coffee and gag on your scrambled eggs. All those white blooming trees you see now are an environmental disaster happening right before your very eyes.

I’m talking about every white blooming tree right now, with only the exception of wild plums, which is a short multi-flora tree that seldom reaches over eight feet in height. All the other white flowering trees in today’s environment are an ecological nightmare, getting worse and worse every year and obliterating our wonderful native trees from the rural landscape.

If it’s blooming white right now, it’s a curse. This dictum especially applies to that “charming” Bradford pear your dimwitted landscaper planted in the middle of your front yard. Indeed, lack of smarts is what has led to this disaster. Bradford pear is worse than kudzu, and the ill-conceived progeny of Bradford pear will be cursing our environment for decades or possibly centuries yet to come.

When Bradford pear was introduced as an ornamental in 1964 by the US Department of Agriculture, it was known then that this tree possessed the weakest branch structure in nature. Also, the tree was assumed to be sterile. Bradford pears will seldom last more than 20 years before they bust themselves apart at the seams. That’s actually the good news.'>>>

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/03/30/curse-bradford-pear-column/82416560/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. One advantage to living in the Frozen North

is that Bradford pears won't grow here.

[Warpy]

4. I haven't seen (or smelled) them here in the high desert

Yes, they stink when they're blooming, sort of like a bad fish market that tries to disguise the rotten smell with bleach.

A better small, white ornamental would have been the medlar, something that yields butt ugly fruit which is hard and inedible at harvest but which turns ambrosial once it rots, sort of like a slightly gritty apple butter with a delicate alcoholic overtone. They're just starting to be grown here in the US.

The worst invaders here are salt cedar and Russian olive, both of which suck up precious water down near the river. Fortunately, they've discovered that goats do a good job of getting rid of them, preferring them to native species.

That's what I suggest for Bradford pear infestations. Find something that'll eat them, beavers and goats come to mind.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. They're everywhere along the highways here. You know that

no one climbed the mountain to plant them.

[femmocrat]

3. We had them in front of one of the schools where I worked.

They smell bad and drop "junk" all over the sidewalks. Their only saving grace is that they stay red for a long while in the fall.

I have one in my yard that has been struck by lightning twice! The second time it smashed the fence.

I do like the red leaves though. Interesting that they cross-pollinate and spread so rapidly.

[joet67]

5. I just saw this a couple of days ago. They sure are pretty. Sad to learn of the problems

they cause.

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. We call it the cat piss tree. Smells like a litter box

[Rebl2]

7. My neighbors

on both sides of me have had them and they don't tolerate wind or heavy snow. They always have to clean up the broken limbs after a storm. Terrible tree to plant for that reason and they smell soooo bad when they bloom.

[Botany]

8. they are a green cancer

n/t