I surely don't want to start a big debate on Callery Pears, and I don't think we need to pontificate anymore for one side or the other (especially now that election day is over), but the Callery Pears around here are in their full fall color and I did get some telling photos yesterday.
Scott
The American Dream, an allee of Bradfords leading your eye right up to the garage door.
Scott
Callery Pears, the tree of Home Depot. Um, Home Depot's tree. Perhaps, the official tree of Home Depot.
Callery Pears out competing Lonicera maackii for the place of honor in an abandoned field. This picture, btw, doesn't begin to show the shear number of Callery Pears in this field. Hundreds, maybe thousands. A nearby traffic island between ramps of two freeways literally was wall-to-wall Callery Pears.
Scott
Scott,
I was reflecting on the species myself today as I was taking out dead trees in an urban setting. There were a number of Callery Pear planted nearby that are really shining right now. It's hard not to sell this tree to the average impatient homeowner wanting everything, now. I'm nervous about the long term use of this tree for the reason that your 4th picture illustrates. Across the fence from our nursery, the ditch is loaded with P. calleryana seedlings. At one time, I had thought of walking the ditch in fall and looking for ones with exceptional color, etc. Luckily, the IDOT mows them off every spring. I think that the plant's days are numbered, even if they are still many.
Regards,
Ernie
I'd like to see that allee ten years from now.
Escambia,
Yeah, they are about at critical mass, aren't they.
Scott
If I had the time I would spend days walking and assesing all those trees. Ya never know there just might be one with a bit of generic variabilty that would have better branching strength. I have heard that pruning to make more of a 90 degree angle would allow a longer life of the tree. Don't know if that is true or not.
But then when you look at your pics it makes you almost glad it a short lived tree, beautiul though it is.
Selection of a superior Pyrus calleryana would be about as useful as a hardy evergreen kudzu, or maybe a furry fire ant that would curl up in your lap and purr.
Looking at the photo of that field reminds me of our problem with Tallow trees. Fiery red fall color is not the norm here (except Nyssa) so when you see it, you pretty much know that it's Tallow trees. It is amazing to drive the roads here and see the red foliage in the woods and roadsides. Some people think it is beautiful, but knowing what it is makes me look at it with disgust.
Lovely trees.. not!
They are okay, before they fall apart.
I have photos too! - http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v243/w4i0a/broken%20Bradford%20Pears/
Will
Escambia,
I almost miss the days before I learned enough to know that not every tree was a good thing. There is something to say for the bliss of innocense!
Scott
E-guy,
Once you get north of Montgomery(it may be a problem south of m-town, too) Callery pears are as common as tallowtrees; even more so the closer you get to Birmingham. When I travel US 280 in Dec/Jan, it's easy to pick out all the 'volunteer' callery seedlings - most still hold a full cloak of purple leaves; you'll see 'em in fencerows, growing up next to and under utility pole guywires, in the highway median, at Interstate interchanges, etc. Sometimes, I 'amuse' myself by counting the escaped callery pear seedlings visible along the highways between the TN line and the Loveliest Village on the Plains. Usually get well up into the hundreds before I lose count....
I posted a couple pictures of Bradford Pears on my thread. Yea it is sure hard to argue with most homeowners because the trees do have some very nice attributes. Do you know of any studies showing the impact of naturalized Callery Pears? Some animals must be eating the fruit. Are they aggressive enough to outcompete native trees?
- Brent
I have had a few volunteers on my property but I think they came from my eating pear tree because they were in close proximity to it. My guess is the deer helped plant them by eating the fruit and pooping the seeds. I haven't noticed many escapees on the roadsides though.
I have only ever seen one picture of a callery pear that I like. I have a big book simply titled "Trees and Shrubs", and on page 582 is a picture of one that is branched low to the ground like a live oak and has bright red fall color. I have never seen another like it.
I have never seen a Callery Pear turn that color before. I was just out at my parents house yesterday and the leaves on theirs were almost all gone. What few remained were just a blah yellow color. Actually, any Callery Pear I've ever seen, turns the same blah yellow color. Certainly nothing to write home about.
Around here, Callery Pears are glorious in Fall. Something to write everybody about. Of course, Fall color is only one part of the equation.
Scott
Brent, here is one of the very first articles on how invasive Calleryana Pears are. http://www.agnr.umd.edu/ipmnet/5-8art1.htm
That Bradford is invasive and it also self destructs somewhere around 15 yrs I've always read. There's a lot of research out their now about how invasive Bradford is and all you have to do is type in your search engine, such as yahoo, Calleryana or just Callery plus invasive and you'll get tons of hits. The tree got real popular and it's still being sold by the truckloads to unsuspecting homeowners. And like Scott said it's the American Dream and the official tree of Home Depot. I'm sure with the way people are buying this tree, that there will be a lot more research done. I've seen the stuff popping up in spring before anything else.
I'm sure it will only be a matter of time until they start getting disease prone, just like every other member of the rose family. We can only hope. I think I have read a report of them becoming more susceptible to fire blight.
I became aware of the Bradford Pear tree when we moved to Tennessee. We had lived in Germany and California (desert) prior to this move and didn't know what they were. I did notice right away that there was one in nearly every yard, sometimes half a dozen! I began to dislike them right away. That first spring I remember going to the local school and thinking that there must be a problem with the sewer, but it turned out to be the scent of the flowers on the trees lining the parking lot! One is now split in half and I don't know how long the others will last. I convinced my neighbor not to plant one by bringing her a few of the flowers. Nauseating.
Escambia,
I notice that a lot, maybe a majority, of the volunteers along roadsides exhibit signs of fireblight. I wonder if this huge reservoir of fireblight bait will mean fireblight gets vectored to other plants better.
Scott
I think it would. In the beginning it may not have been a problem because homeowners usually rake up and dispose of fallen leaves. But these trees in woodland areas drop their leaves on the ground, where they stay for the fungus to overwinter. Then in spring it gets spread everywhere. Fruit growers would probably have lots less problems if ornamental pears had never been introduced.
