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Was 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
by beezle 3y ago
Was 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 - apparently some type of moisture/vapor build up in the interior.
- cafard 3y agoWhere was this? In Maryland they would break, a lot, but I never heard of them exploding. I don't think the people in our development loved them. Certainly I had seen a few too many across somebody's lawn or walk.
- beezle 3y agoSouthern CT near the sound. Yes it would happen with some of the wide, low branches. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like popcorn, maybe once every other year.
- flutas 3y agoThey 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.
- QuercusMax 3y agoWe had one in front of our house at one point, and the first year it bloomed we thought there was a dead animal under the house. Some people say they smell like bleach and/or semen as well. I'd rather have Durian than Bradford pear.
- dvirsky 3y agoThese 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.
- LambdaComplex 3y agoThey sure are
- neilv 3y agoAt 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.
- exe34 3y agoI don't think wit is how she identified it.
- akira2501 3y agoI thought that was the Linden tree.[0] [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-8l3V38Ps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-8l3V38Ps
- FredPret 3y agoAlways the first thing that come to mind when smelly trees "come up"
- lo_zamoyski 3y agoLinden trees have a unique scent, but I never thought it was repulsive or even remotely associated with the kinds of things people associate it with.
- silisili 3y agoMy high school had a bunch of these. All the kids called them CumDrop trees, for good reason.
- pvaldes 3y agoCommon 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).
- swalling 3y agoThe other one that smells horrible are female gingko trees. The fruits smell like rancid butter or garbage. These days you can really only buy the male ones but older plantings are awful. https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/ginkgo-stinkgo-are-boys-better-than-girls/ https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/ginkgo-stinkgo-are-boys...
- scns 3y agoWe have a street lined with those. To me it smells like vomit.
- TheHypnotist 3y agoI have one in my yard and it doesn't smell at all. It also doesn't produce fruit.
- echelon 3y agoBradford 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 way too many problems: - Kills all the grass underneath them from shade and root structure - Seedlings and root offshoots are pervasive pests - Produces a lot of fruit, and it's toxic to humans and dogs. It smells bad and can smear if you step on it - Trees only live 7 - 15 years, and they leave a gnarly root system to deal with. - Extremely prone to falling over during winds or tornadoes. Can easily damage fences, housing, etc. We had to replace our fence once because of one. Even small storms can bring down the older trees. - And of course, everyone knows how awful they smell in the spring
- ethbr1 3y agoI 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 or tornadoes. Also kids climbing on them, from childhood experience. Weak wood.
- saalweachter 3y agoMarmarated beetles for me.
- pvaldes 3y agoA 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.