Like so many pretty things, there’s a dark side to these trees.
They have become such a problem that some areas have banned the sale of this cultivar and are paying homeowners to remove and replace them.
Native to China, it is well-adapted to a variety of climates. They can thrive in hot summers as well as bitterly cold winters. In the Midwest and Southeast, they have become obnoxiously invasive. They spread by producing suckers, which have nasty thorns that can be 3 inches long. As with all suckering plants, if you cut the main trunk down, the suckers will persist and multiply. Imagine that you are Hercules trying to slay a many-headed hydra in your yard.
Any tree that grows quickly is likely to be prone to breakage, and Bradford pears are no exception. Their natural branch structure is weak, and the wood is exceptionally brittle, making them hazardous in windy conditions. In fact, they don’t even need the wind’s help. One afternoon, on an almost perfectly still day, one of these huge trees, without warning, just broke in half, missing our car by a few feet.
They are also semi-resistant to fireblight. Many desirable fruit trees are extremely susceptible to this disease and will succumb within a year or two after being infected. Bradford pears can be infected with and spread fireblight, but rarely do they die from it. We have lost many pear, apple, and quince trees due to blight from the Bradford pears planted just outside our wall.
Last, but not least, the flowers have an unpleasant, musty stench that smells like – um – a teenage boy’s room or the back of a city bus. You know what I mean.
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