Spawn of evil landscape tree

[Silas_Sancona]

Good article regarding one ( ...of a few,  lol.. ) non native trees that almost everyone knows ..or has delt with  that might have seemed like a close to perfect landscape option, but quickly revealed it's true colors.. Never liked them at all anywhere i have lived, esp. after seeing what a typical summer Thunderstorm ..let alone historic Ice Storm can do to them.. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/26/us/bradford-pear-tree-south-carolina.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Flowers might look nice, from a distance ..but stink, and i myself end up w/ headaches whenever i'm near them ( same with X-plitive  Ligustrum Privets )..  Good to see they're being banned in more places, and that bounties / incentives are being enacted on eradicating them. Hopefully those areas where the spawn of Bradfords has invaded natural areas can get a handle on these.

A great lesson that while humans may try to tinker w/ a plant to try and keep it from reproducing, nature always finds a way to ..be nature..  Don't fall for " this cultivar is sterile/ won't fruit / set seed " bad salesman trap, no mater how  " pretty " it might look.    Pretty  can turn into a curse-  filled nightmare pretty quickly..

[RyManUtah]

Never got the appeal of trees that smell like canine excrement. 

[teddytn]

Bradford pear trees get branches ripped off or whole trees toppled here in “normal” storms. Really bad ice storms and tornado related thunderstorms will have the streets littered with branches from Branford’s

[Silas_Sancona]

6 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

Never got the appeal of trees that smell like canine excrement. 

I could see the appeal of the fall foliage colors these can provide.. but there are numerous other options that provide the same thing, and don't produce the cat pee smelling flowers..

1 hour ago, teddytn said:

Bradford pear trees get branches ripped off or whole trees toppled here in “normal” storms. Really bad ice storms and tornado related thunderstorms will have the streets littered with branches from Branford’s

It's interesting.. In Cali, i'd see these withstand some pretty intense winter windstorms while other " sturdier " trees suffered some degree of minor ( ..or occasionally worse ) damage during the same event(s)  That said, those types of storm events aren't as common there as back east.. and Bradfords would get thrashed during really bad storms too.. 

In Kansas and Ohio?, esp. during severe storms / heavy snow, and/or ice events?  forget it, lol.. remember seeing dozens of Bradfords in a neighborhood where every branch was sheered off after a historic ice storm in KS., Similar experiences when i lived in Ohio.. or, as you mentioned, where entire trees were splintered to the ground and tossed across roads, yards, and parking lots like match sticks after big summer storms..

[teddytn]

31 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

I could see the appeal of the fall foliage colors these can provide.. but there are numerous other options that provide the same thing, and don't produce the cat pee smelling flowers..

It's interesting.. In Cali, i'd see these withstand some pretty intense winter windstorms while other " sturdier " trees suffered some degree of minor ( ..or occasionally worse ) damage during the same event(s)  That said, those types of storm events aren't as common there as back east.. and Bradfords would get thrashed during really bad storms too.. 

In Kansas and Ohio?, esp. during severe storms / heavy snow, and/or ice events?  forget it, lol.. remember seeing dozens of Bradfords in a neighborhood where every branch was sheered off after a historic ice storm in KS., Similar experiences when i lived in Ohio.. or, as you mentioned, where entire trees were splintered to the ground and tossed across roads, yards, and parking lots like match sticks after big summer storms..

That is weird they’ve been tougher out west than east…Agreed overall. Human intervention has its place in plant cultivation for sure, but with huge landscape trees that can damage property I’m not a fan. What was the big push with the Bradfords anyways? Side note I’ve been trying to gather a bunch of opuntia hybrids lately, trying to get a bunch of different bloom colors and different shapes and sizes.  

[Silas_Sancona]

9 minutes ago, teddytn said:

That is weird they’ve been tougher out west than east…Agreed overall. Human intervention has its place in plant cultivation for sure, but with huge landscape trees that can damage property I’m not a fan. What was the big push with the Bradfords anyways? Side note I’ve been trying to gather a bunch of opuntia hybrids lately, trying to get a bunch of different bloom colors and different shapes and sizes.  

They might stand up to some of the windstorms out there a bit better < not a ton better by any stretch though > ( Don't think they fare any better in the Pac. N.W. than back east either. ) but everything else gets to them ..heat, drought, insects that attack stressed specimens, etc..

Think the  < cough> "appeal" was more about human desires -in the landscape- rather than properly accessing how tough the trees actually were.. The whole  "ideal"  of  the perfect -sized tree that can fit almost anywhere / won't get too large, etc.. "  When you think about it, this sort of thing happens often ..Designers get caught up in " plant fads " like almost anyone can.. Here, Sissoo, African Sumac, and Ficus nitida used to be planted by the dozens in a good % 'age of new sub divisions,  until the trees started causing expensive repair issues.. Chilean Mesquite will probably be the next " not as great of an option as first thought " tree that gets planted less and less ( mainly due to how easily they can break up during storms ).

Human tinkering is kind of a fine line, imo.. some positives for sure.. but, can look at Fountain Grass as one example where the " ideal "  was just a sales pitch.. The so called " sterile " varieties?.. can still seed, and spread.. A hybrid bedding plant that might produce pretty flowers, but doesn't produce nectar for pollinators ( Pentas is a good example ) serves no real purpose other than to satisfy those who are needlessly afraid of stinging insects.  Which are often better? Heirloom Tomatoes? or some newer, extensively over bred cultivar?  

You'll have to do an update next spring w/ the new Opuntias..
 

 

[Chester B]

I had two of the accursed trees, fortunately I have almost no sense of smell so they didn't bother me or seem all that different from the other flowering plants.  Last winter we had a historic ice storm and things got ugly.  There might have been 30+ of them in my neighborhood that the city planted back in the mid 90's.  Now there's less than ten, and for those that didn't properly remove the trunks they are suckering like crazy. 

[RyManUtah]

1 hour ago, teddytn said:

Side note I’ve been trying to gather a bunch of opuntia hybrids lately, trying to get a bunch of different bloom colors and different shapes and sizes

Keep an eye on my yard thread this spring. If you see any you like, speak up. 

[teddytn]

2 hours ago, RyManUtah said:

Keep an eye on my yard thread this spring. If you see any you like, speak up. 

Will do, thank you! I might have some you don’t have as well if you want to trade

[amh]

While I mostly agree with everyone's opinions on bradford pear, I find red tip photinia to have the most obnoxious smell. 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, amh said:

While I mostly agree with everyone's opinions on bradford pear, I find red tip photinia to have the most obnoxious smell. 

Yep, they stink too.. Flowers on male Carob Trees aren't exactly alluring either, lol.