Texas Springtime Weather

[Bird]

In view of the damage many folks have sustained recently in Texas and several other states from tornados, hail, and wind, I guess I really shouldn't complain (wouldn't do any good to complain anyway, would it? ), but I still hated to lose half of that little Bradford Pear tree about 3:30 this morning. The only good thing is that when I took this picture, I figured it would probably take me all day to cut it up and load it on the pickup and I was pleasantly surprised to find, with my wife's help, we got it done in about an hour and a half.

 

[RobS]

Yeah Bird, it looks like you guys are getting hammered. We've had rain all day and strong storms forecasted for overnight. I think I'm ready for the lazy, hazy days of summer!

 

[MrJimi]

Can your tree be saved with some kind of patch so it will kinda heal

 

[Bird]

Can your tree be saved with some kind of patch so it will kinda heal

Jim, I bought a can of Sprectracide Pruning Seal at Home Depot this afternoon and sprayed it on liberally. It looks like black tar, and I've heard that it works, so we'll see.

And now, after all the severe weather (besides the wind, we got just a little over and inch of rain), we had a very pleasant sunny day today and the next few days are supposed to be nice springtime weather. So a couple of neighbors and we are getting everything set up for a garage/yard sale this weekend. I'm hoping it'll be dry enough to mow the yard tomorrow.

 

[JB4310]

Bird,
It's a shame about the tree, especially if it was a fruit producing tree, looks like it was very robust and healthy. The damage from the picture looks pretty bad, don't know if the pruning paint is gonna help much, long term prognosis may not be good.
I never heard of Bradford pear so I don't know if it's just a flowering tree or not but I do like pears especially the Winter pears we have around here, though those trees seem to be getting scarce.
JB,

 

[WayneB]

Sorry to hear about the tree Bird! Clean up is always a problem, but good you have the wife to help you with it. Just wondering if the Bradford Pear stinks as badly as some people say? None of them around here that I know of

Wayne

 

[Bird]

JB, unfortunately, Bradford Pears are ornamental shade trees only. They do bloom in the Spring and produce a hard little "fruit" (round, not pear shaped) about the size of a very small marble.

Wayne, a Bradford Pear tree stinks? I never heard that before, so nope, they are quite popular in this area and they don't have enough aroma to notice. Even the blossoms are pretty mild aroma, but certainly not unpleasant.

Of course, I guess there are some different varieties of Bradford Pear. I have that one in the front yard and four across the back yard. One of the four blooms later than the one in the front and the other 3 in the back. I have no idea why. All the blossoms are gone now and they're all green with leaves, but this picture was made on 3-25-08.

 

[WayneB]

I no of none of them up here in the north country and only read about the stink................so be it. I am sure they are really pretty in the spring and look like a very nice shade tree too.

Up here we have the maples for shade, but with our limited sun we really don't need shade trees too often.

 

[Bird]

Wayne, you made me curious so I went to Google.com and entered "Bradford Pear trees" and found that nearly every article written mentions an "unpleasant" or "rank" odor of the blossoms. I've never noticed such an odor, nor had I ever heard of anyone finding it unpleasant. But I do agree with the other things they say about them; short life, narrow angle of dense limbs making them especially susceptible to wind and ice. As I said, they are very popular, but I agree that there are other varieties of tree that would be preferable. One local home builder about 30 years ago was putting a silver leaf maple in the front yard of each house he built. You'd be hard put to find any of those trees left. The ones that didn't die on their own were deliberately destroyed because of the roots that grow out on top of the ground. Live oaks are very popular in this area, but very slow growing.

 

[jinman]

Live oaks are very popular in this area, but very slow growing.

Sorry about your tree Bird. I've got a young cedar you can replace it with.

I think I see a trend in this area of moving away from Bradford Pears. If you look in the "wild" around Dallas and Fort Worth, you will see lots of the BPs growing in woods where birds have dropped seeds. I much prefer Crape Myrtles for the long term. They are much slower growing and don't produce that nice shade tree, but they bloom in late summer when everything else is struggling. I'm glad to see their use in corporate and home landscape increasing.

I actually saw one place that landscaped with hog plum trees. They are the ugliest trees in the woods to my thinking, but have delicious smelling blossoms in the spring. If you cut them with a chainsaw, they smell exactly like a hog pen to me. They are the stinkiest wood I ever cut.

 

[Bird]

Jim, I'm going to leave that little Bradford Pear tree alone for awhile and see how it does. But I, too, like Crape Myrtles. In fact, we have a fairly large one on the other side of the driveway. I don't have a picture of it in bloom, but this one was taken on November 29, 2005, before I pruned it. So I think it actually looks better now than it did then.

 

[srs]

Wayne, a Bradford Pear tree stinks?

Here in Baltimore Maryland (The city that bleeds, I mean reads.) the Bradford Pears are being removed because the way the branches grow a moderate wind will break off many branches falling onto many cars. They look great, don't stink per say, but don't hold up well in an area where the wind will blow out a candle.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Evenin Bird,
Really sorry to hear about your pear tree ! Boy your grass sure is nice and green down there though ! Im betting you have cut it a few times allready !

We just had a beautiful day in Ct today, it was up in the seventies, even had coffee outside this mornin with Kathleen , of course tommorrow is only going to be in the fifties ! Its commin though !

 

[JESSE1]

Lots of Bradford pears have been planted in this area because of the blooms in the spring and the beautiful red/yellow leaves in the fall. The problem is they are a very weak tree. Neil Sperry from Mckinney recommends the Aristocrat ornamental pear instead of the Bradford. The Aristocrat is supposed to be as beautiful but is a much stronger tree.

 

[Bird]

Stanley, I used to live in Baltimore; my parents moved there when I was a baby and lived there over a year before moving back to Oklahoma. Of course, in the early '40s there was no air-conditioning and they did not like the climate. And of course, I remember nothing of Baltimore.

Scotty, I'm mowing the yard every 5 days now. We've had some much warmer weather, but this morning was 44 degrees and went to 68. We had a garage sale this morning and lots of people were complaining about it being cold. Of course that didn't stop them from getting out to visit the garage sales.

Jesse, if I were planting trees, yep, I'd use something other than the Bradford Pear, but since there were 5 of them on this property when I bought it, I'll wait until I have to replace them. And of course, at my age, I'm really hoping and expecting them to outlast me.

 

[Redbug]

There are a lot of Bradford's around here, also. They are a pretty tree, but have a lot of negative qualities...mainly weak limbs because they grow so fast. My advise if you do think about planting a new tree or two, is put in one that also has some use with it. Maybe an apple, (research the best varieties for around your area, first), or possibly pecan if you have the room. And quit worrying about getting old!

 

[Bird]

Dave, when I was a kid in Healdton, OK, we had one apple tree. I think they called it a crab apple. And an aunt and uncle of my Dad's had several apple trees in southern Oklahoma. It seems to me that the apple varieties you'd want to eat fesh just don't work down south, although as sorry as some of the apples appear, they aren't bad for apple pies and apple jelly. And of course, I've had lots of experience with pecan trees, both as a kid and later in life. We had 12 on the 10 acres we sold to move back to town.