Ah, typical. Nature taking its course and, once again, humans decide they know what's better and is going in to "correct" things. Then a few years in there's the cry about the disruption that was caused, and yet even more attempts at rectification. A never-ending cycle, because we can't learn to be hands off. Well I guess the cycle will eventually end given things are always somewhat worse with every swing of the correction pendulum, so at some point it'll all just... crash.
Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
51–60 of 154 posts
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bradford pears were all the rage in the 1990s to 2000s. At one point HOAs thought these were the best tree . Local gardens and nurseries would sell lots of them to landscapers and homeowners. To this day, they're all over my home state of Georgia. And they're still selected for new landscaping. They did have a few pros: - Look great in the spring - Huge, lush, thick canopy in the summer - Fast growing But there are w…
I think this takes the cake for "first invasive species I've seen populate over my lifespan." Just moved back to GA after 3 years away and asked folks what all the white-blossoming trees in meadows are this spring, as don't remember seeing so many blossoms previously. Cherries (closest blossom I know) aren't that fruitful / clustering. Dogwoods look completely different. > Extremely prone to falling over during winds…
Marmarated beetles for me.
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#53Ah, typical. Nature taking its course and, once again, humans decide they know what's better and is going in to "correct" things. Then a few years in there's the cry about the disruption that was caused, and yet even more attempts at rectification. A never-ending cycle, because we can't learn to be hands off. Well I guess the cycle will eventually end given things are always somewhat worse with every swing of the cor…
I don't mean to blow your mind, but humans are a part of nature. One advantage we have over other species is that we can spot patterns and work collectively to fix undesirable situations or circumstances. And if our fix causes further problems, we can fix those too!
We're flawed creatures so it's not ideal, but it sure beats being at the mercy of the forces nature uses to correct things on its own, like diseases and famine.
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#54They need a better name that conveys their vile nature. I love pears. Why are people so upset about a pear tree I initially thought?
“Cum tree” doesn’t do it for you?
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also smell like someone took a rotting fish, dunked it in sewage and decided to roast it in the sun for a few days. They're everywhere where I live, and it's so bad.
These are the same trees known as Cum Trees, right? My neighbors have a couple, I didn't know these before moving to the US, and the first time I smelled them was... something.
At least one street here got lined with those. A witty lesbian friend I was walking with identified the scent immediately, so at least the trees were good for some jokes.
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#56Was on HOA board where we had a road with quite a few of these trees. They were a fortune to prune because of the numerous small branches at higher reaches. As a board, we actually hoped they would come down in storms so we could replace with something more appropriate without the take down cost (and resident complaints). Another unqiue thing is during the summer it was not uncommon for a branch to suddenly explode -…
They also smell like someone took a rotting fish, dunked it in sewage and decided to roast it in the sun for a few days. They're everywhere where I live, and it's so bad.
Common Pear trees have also this fish smell. Everything pollinated by flies has an offensive smell in one or other way. This is bad but can be desirable at the same time (no wasps or bees in the narrow streets).
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bradford pears were all the rage in the 1990s to 2000s. At one point HOAs thought these were the best tree . Local gardens and nurseries would sell lots of them to landscapers and homeowners. To this day, they're all over my home state of Georgia. And they're still selected for new landscaping. They did have a few pros: - Look great in the spring - Huge, lush, thick canopy in the summer - Fast growing But there are w…
I think this takes the cake for "first invasive species I've seen populate over my lifespan." Just moved back to GA after 3 years away and asked folks what all the white-blossoming trees in meadows are this spring, as don't remember seeing so many blossoms previously. Cherries (closest blossom I know) aren't that fruitful / clustering. Dogwoods look completely different. > Extremely prone to falling over during winds…
A few observations:
Japanese Cherries can be much more packed with flowers than this pear (It depends on the cultivar). Both Cherries and Dogwoods are royalty on gardens, but both deploy to much wider structures that can be low branched and tend to hang searching the floor, so this Pyrus is still pretty much unbeatable for narrow streets. Palms have their own problems, like thorns, but are "designed" for streets with extremely windy areas. The problem is that palms don't survive the same frost than pears can.
There are maybe five or ten trees so narrow in their category that, unlike conifers, bring blossoms, clean relatively dry fruits, and excellent fall colour in snowy areas. Some are among the most alien things that you can have in a garden.
And all that grows in such acute angles is prone to catastrophic cracks for wind damage. It comes in the package.
Having a Dogwood that would grow fastigiate retaining the "dog wood" part, would be a revolution, but is not available at this moment (and probably will never be). Dogwoods love the 90 degrees angle. I have a maple 'Tsukasa Silhouette' that would look great, but is too small, too expensive and too delicate to be used as that.
Pears are still one of the tastier fruits in a garden, not ornamental royalty, but food royalty for sure. I just ignore the short interval of smell as a necessary tax to pay.
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
They also smell like someone took a rotting fish, dunked it in sewage and decided to roast it in the sun for a few days. They're everywhere where I live, and it's so bad.
These are the same trees known as Cum Trees, right? My neighbors have a couple, I didn't know these before moving to the US, and the first time I smelled them was... something.
I thought that was the Linden tree.[0]
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#59Ah, typical. Nature taking its course and, once again, humans decide they know what's better and is going in to "correct" things. Then a few years in there's the cry about the disruption that was caused, and yet even more attempts at rectification. A never-ending cycle, because we can't learn to be hands off. Well I guess the cycle will eventually end given things are always somewhat worse with every swing of the cor…
If we were 'hands off', the Bradford Pear would have never made it to North America in the first place.
Re: Bradford pear trees banned in few states – More are looking to eradicate them
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
These are the same trees known as Cum Trees, right? My neighbors have a couple, I didn't know these before moving to the US, and the first time I smelled them was... something.
I thought that was the Linden tree.[0] [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-8l3V38Ps
Always the first thing that come to mind when smelly trees "come up"