PlantFiles: Flowering Pear, Callery Pear
Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford'

This tree's drawbacks concerning weak branches are readily acknowledged - it shouldn't be grown as a large or even medium tree. But gardeners do have some options besides getting rid of it. A young tree can be kept small with judicious pruning right after its blooming period. An older tree can be cut down to the ground, and re-grown as a multi-stemmed shrub.

True bradford pears are thornless. Only accidental hybrids bear thorns, getting loose to spread through birds and other wildlife. True bradford pears also bear sterile seeds when "bred" with other true bradford pears and cannot spread. Again, only the hybrids produce viable seeds. So, if there are no thorny, non-bradford pear trees to begin with, there is no problem.
A lovely tree.

I have to say I hate this tree.. The thorns hurt like heck if you don't know about them. I had one stick in the top of my head while mowing.. it was not fun. I have since trimmed the lower branches. The fruit grows slowly.. haven't experienced a bunch faling from the tree, but I guess I will at some point. They are nice as far as the shape and overall look of the tree, but if they are short rooted, can't eat the pears, and they "bite" you, doesn't make much sense to have them around.

Spent 4 hours with a chainsaw cleaning up my neighbor's bradford pear... a MILD windstorm blew it onto a fence. My mother thinks they're pretty. Truth is, they all look the same, (no character), and are structurally unsound... nothing pretty about that.
A bunch of branches emerging from the same point that collects water, rots, and splits. I've seen driveways lined with the durn things. An inevitable disaster. At least cities have stopped planting them.

"N/A: plant does not set seed, flowers are sterile, or plants will not come true from seed"

HAH!!

My next-door neighbor had some old ones that sometimes bloomed late enough not to get hit by a late freeze, and they would set fruit. There was a whole row of these lollipops across the front of their property, but now they are down to shreds after the ice storm this winter.

These alien pears DO spread by seed because I now have them sprouting as weeds in gardening beds all over my yard. Some of the young trees have thorns at the tips of the branches. While they don't breed true, they DO breed, and birds spread the seeds.

After trying to pull these things up, or clipping them at ground level just to see them re-sprout, I now HATE this tree. Not as much as I hate Ailanthus altissima, the tree from Hell, but I truly DO hate this tree. They do not belong here. Plant something else, like Serviceberry or Redbud. Both of those bloom early, and they are native.

Around here people plant this tree for its beautiful shape and flowers, but that is about all that is good about it.

If you get a bad storm, it is the first tree to come out of the ground because of its shallow root system and the branches are very weak because of its rapid growth.

The flowers on this tree have a horrible scent that is used to attract tiny fruit type flies that you can hardly notice which pollinate the flowers. The scent is overwhelming when they are planted in groups.

This is what I call a "junk tree". Way overplanted, little character, weak wooded, structurally unsound, short-lived. Not worth the blossoms that last for a whole week -whoopee.

i have 3 of these trees that were planted by previous owners, mine definately are not fruitless and yeild a hundred pears a year each, while the pears are almost edible - they are not. So they just attract insects, and are a pain to clean up in fall.
The trees grow out of control and are very hard to prune to get them looking nice -especially if not cared for in the past. On top of it the branches grow long and once weighed down by the tons of pears it produces- the look terrible and hang to almost reach the ground. So far i have not had any break but thats only because i cut the ugly thing back so much.
And yes i agree that although they look nice for a whole week - the flowers are pungent smelling.
Most nursuries sell these trees as the cheapest tree availble at 15-20 bucks- theres a reason for it.

I have never liked Bradford pears, but my disgust with them has quickly increased. The fields surrounding my house are full of seedlings and I have encountered too many pears that have split and people "clean up" and leave after an ice storm. The gaping holes left in trunks from broken leaders are "oh so attractive."

My mother has a 16+ year old one planted right beside her house. Amazingly it has never broken apart, which I think can be attributed to the shelter the tree receives from the house. Two years ago it developed a severe infection of fire blight. Since then, I have noticed more and more Bradfords around the upstate of South Carolina developing infections. Bradfords are supposedly resistant to fire blight, but the infection must have mutated slightly in this area (I am certain these are Bradfords, not Aristocrats).

The fire blight was bad enough, but now our area Bradford pears seem to be absolutely covered in cedar apple rust. My mother's beloved tree is one that is declining quickly. Many more are sure to follow. The more I look around, the more I see. I would love to replant another tree for my mother - she loves crabapples. Unfortunately pretty much anything in that family is very susceptible to both probelms. Looks like we'll be replanting with a deciduous magnolia or Japanese maple!

We planted two 'Bradfords' on each side of the house. I was a newb and planted a butterfly garden around it.

One year the trees seem to have been infected by a blight and one died and the one in my butterfly garden has barely been holding on ever since.

The top portion of it died so I had to chop off the top, which makes it less than attractive and it keeps dropping it's branches, usually a bunch all at the same time.

I haven't had a problem, yet, with troublesome volunteers. I don't really notice a scent but I'm not happy with the droves of flying insects it draws in the spring but I supposed any flowers will do that at that time of the year.

After I dig up and move my butterfly garden, I'm planning on leaving it. As long as it's still alive I don't really mind it where it is.

Said to only live 25-30 years!!!!

As others have stated, this tree is way overplanted. It's also very brittle. It takes not much wet snow to shed decent sized limbs or splitting. Do no park your car under them when the fruit ripens. They splatter when they land and can ruin your paint job.

While many people think of this tree as being fruitless,it does form small fruit that sometimes grows into trees where you dont want them. The wild offspring they create are not like the parent tree. They are severely malformed and have thorns about an inch long that really hurt. This tree is somewhat attractive but is very overplanted to the point to where i'm tired of seeing them.

I realize that this tree has a few flaws, but, I remain mesmerized by its intoxicating beauty.

In Spring when covered in tiny white flowers, it is an almost magical sight; I cannot help but feel cheerful in its presence. The show continues as the ground becomes blanketed with the "snow-like" confetti of fallen petals.

In Zone 8b, coastal SC where most foliage turns a dull grey brown in Fall, this tree knows few equals. It boasts leaves of lemon yellow, primary orange, fire engine red, and dark burgandy often all at the same time and even mixed with some lime green. In an area awash with dull shades of grey-brown, it is an awesome site. Even the brilliant shower of fallen leaves is beautiful beneath this colorful tree.

I have seen more of these trees uprooted by the slightest bit of wind than I care to count. The shallow roots and heavy foliage load make them a prime candidate for disaster.

They hold their leaves into December here in West KY, and sometimes a snowstorm will catch them, breaking the limbs and ruining the shape.

As Terry stated, the beautiful Spring blooms stink to high Heaven...my neighbor has 10 of these things and we live downwind.....ugggg! They also bloom so early here that oft-times a freeze gets them before they get really pretty...the odor is still there though.

I'm not much on these 'lollipop shaped' trees...looks like a kiddie drawing....I'll plant something else.

When I caught my first whiff of a "Bradford Pear" in full bloom, I knew I would not be a huge fan (the smell is offputting, to say the least.) When I realized how weak-wooded and short-lived these trees are, my view of them dimmed further.

Other trees such as Amelanchier spp. (aka "Serviceberry") provide as much or more year-round interest, and are not as apt to splinter like a toothpick in a normal spring storm.

This is a beautiful flowering tree for early spring its covered in white blooms. But also makes a pretty fall show the green leaves turn to red in the fall and stay longer than most trees. These trees usually have to be replaced as they get older the limbs break in snow and storms.The fruit on this tree are not edible and can be a nuisance to keep cleaned up out of your yard.