Bradoford Pear

Jackson, MO(Zone 6b)

I don't know if this has been mentioned or not. I keep forgetting to post information about Bradford Pears.

Along with every neighborhood having a Bradford Pear that looks rather boring, and the fact Bradford Pears break large limbs easily in windy conditions, they now have discovered they are crossing with other pear trees and creating a pear tree called the Calgary Pear.

The Calgary Pear has large thorns with fruit the size of a large blueberry. They are threatening the native habitat. On one busy street in our town that covers about two miles, I counted 11 Calgary Pear trees. We had four grow on the side of our yard. We have taken them out and replaced them with Amelanchiers.

Elgin, IL(Zone 5a)

I don't know what it is, but I have always disliked pears, and wouldn't consider them at my former home. They have some utility as street trees on narrow streets - and Millennium Park on Chicago's lakefront has a billion of them. Pretty from a distance as you are passing on the bus (I kid you not!)

I moved into a house with a huge Bradford four years ago. Dwarfed the house. Gorgeous in bloom. Hated the fruit. Then it was growing into the power lines, and when I brought out an arborist to evaluate it, he pointed out the defect and the fact that it was starting to spread. It would cost quite a bit to prune it away from the power lines - a process that would have to be repeated every few years. And as you can see, the place where it was going to split was evident.

Pulled it out. They ground the whole thing and I mulched my whole garden. Took the stump 12 inches below the ground. Planted a paperbark maple that they helped me locate. Got a lot more sunlight.

I had the most wonderful allegheny serviceberry at my former home. I'm looking for a place to put a new one. WONDERFUL tree!

I really am not following you around the site, although I think this is the third one today.You post such wonderful entries. I spot the titles, and say to myself - how interesting, let me read that one - and it's you!

Donna

Thumbnail by DonnaMack Thumbnail by DonnaMack
Jackson, MO(Zone 6b)

:-)

I'm hoping people will get rid of their Bradford Pears. Maybe when the limbs break off, they'll get rid of them rather than cut a huge part of the tree away.

My area has way too many of them.

Roswell, GA

The entrance to my neighborhood has a median that is planted with mature Bradfords. I volunteered on the landscape committee and mentioned that we needed to prune out about 1/2 the limbs to keep them from breaking. I could never get any support for it. Then this January (I stepped down from the landscape committee because of other obligations) the LC had a company come out and "top" all of the trees. So instead of selectively pruning out the heavy limbs they chopped the top off of all the limbs. Not only do they look horrid, they will be even more susceptible to wind shearing during our late summer storms as each branch will now end in lots of heavy new branches. The next time I go out that entrance I will snap a picture.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2016 12:34 PM

Elgin, IL(Zone 5a)

Dear RoswellGinny,

Your story of the "topping" is unfortunately a familiar one. There are lots of landscape companies that don't have a clue. The pears will now display a hideous growth pattern of spindly limbs growing out of the top.

I am fortunate enough to be a master gardener who actually has paying client. Both had "professional" installation and care of plants that consisted of:

Planting grafted trees with the graft union so high that the suckers are 8 inches across;

Planting shrubs so closely together that one kills the other;

Pruning spring blooming plants such as viburnums and lilacs early in the season so that there are no blooms;

Pruning forsythia in the middle of the summer, rather than right after bloom, so that the plants look burned..

Planting perennials that seed so heavily that they grow into other plants..

I could go on and on...

The great part is when you have TWO people who have the same inept landscapers and maintenance people.

What they needed to do is remove the Bradfords, because they are going to split anyway, after being pruned over and over again. I think that your suggestion was INFINITELY better than what they did, but pruning is actually going to stimulate enthusiastic growth. At least it wouldn't have been hideaous. The cost of removing my pear, chopping it into mulch for my use, and digging out an 18 inch hole so that the new tree could be put about three feet away was less than the cost of pruning the tree ONCE!

It's a shame you couldn't stay. They needed you.

This message was edited Apr 8, 2016 7:58 AM

Jackson, MO(Zone 6b)

Regarding the invasiveness of the "offspring" of the Bradford pear. They have pretty much finished blooming here. There were, really, I'd say a thousand around our area.
I counted on a 3/4 mile 47 Calgary Pears, which is the offspring of the Bradford. It has small fruits the size of a sour cherry and 2 1/2" thorns. It's not a tree one should want in their yard.
One day, we will look out and see very few if any native Dogwoods, Redbuds, and Serviceberries. Sad. People do not want to part with their Pear trees.

Elgin, IL(Zone 5a)

You should see how many pear trees there are in Millenium Park, in downtown Chicago. A hundred? In downtown areas in the suburbs? Lining all the streets. The are very upright and narrow, so I guess they are good for streets. But one of my rules is that you don't grow anything lots of people have, if, for no other reason, that a disease will wipe them all out.I grew up on a street with 100 year old elms. It was shocking when they took them all out. Then it was maples. We had a problem with those here as well, although the city contained the spread, which it can't do with ash trees. I never realized how many there were until they started being cut down.

I had an allegheny serviceberry and a cornus alternifolia in my old yard. Loved them. My neighbor across the street has four serviceberries (single stem, installed by the city, growing into the power lines so it will need to be massacred) and my other neighbor has one sticking in isolation in his yard. He did it to compete, because the two are firemen and there is a rivalry there. It looks very lonely. I really like the multi-stem, and I think they look better when they are "placed" with something around them. (picture 1).

Maybe a little color at their feet. (picture 2).

And when the stufff around them is post bloom, let their berries shine (picture 3).

I want to work one into my back yard, because they can be grown as an understory tree, and because they would be away from my neighbors' trees.

You know what no one grows here? Viburnums, with the exception of carlesi.

This message was edited Apr 8, 2016 8:00 AM

Thumbnail by DonnaMack Thumbnail by DonnaMack Thumbnail by DonnaMack
Scott County, KY(Zone 5b)

Maybe not exactly in Elgin, but not far away in St. Charles and Elburn has lived a quite prolific viburnum connoisseur.

Look back through archives here for posts by Kevin_5...

Elgin, IL(Zone 5a)

Bummer. All references to Kevin_5 seem to have been removed. Unless archives is in a special place...

My clients are in St. Charles. There are some very cool gardens there.

Scott County, KY(Zone 5b)

Well, I don't know where you are looking, but here are a few links I just clipped.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/579574/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/582460/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/583072/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/582459/

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/581413/

The information is still there, just have to go back in time on the old pages...

Elgin, IL(Zone 5a)

Cool! Thanks - lots of good reading here.....

Scott County, KY(Zone 5b)

Heady times...

Almost all of those folks have blown to the four winds, and it was a sad/disappointing parting. I maintain friendships with most of them, where possible.

But as a window closes, doors can open. New participants are here today, and there will different ones on the horizon. Use the fact that all those past posts are still there for the absorption, and could be brought forward with a new post or simply as an attached link if questions arise that need answering or clarification.

Apologies to birder17 for hijacking your thread...

Jackson, MO(Zone 6b)

Not a problem.
Now, all of the Russian Olives are in bloom. :( I bet there's 2,000 of them in the area. Sometimes I think property owners around here are very irresponsible. But, mostly, I think they aren't even aware of the invasives.

Anne Arundel,, MD(Zone 7b)

Calgary, or callery, pears continue to plague our region. Some highway right of ways that are allowed to grow up are carpeted with young pears. One can see it most vividly when they are in bloom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrus_calleryana

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