A flowering tree that smells like stinky fish
Cities that once lined their streets with these trees now shun them.
Ah early spring, when the birds get back to singing their love songs, daffodils and crocuses bloom and magnificent trees such as the magnolia display their glorious flowers. Who doesn’t love seeing the flowering trees as they drive down virtually any roads in early spring? ….And some of these trees even smell wonderful.
…..but then there’s the Bradford pear, a cultivar of the Callery pear. It *seemed* like a great landscape tree: early blooms, it grows relatively quickly, and its flowers provide pollen for those early pollinators when not many flowers are available. The tree, native to parts of Asia, was brought to the United States around 100 years ago to be the ideal landscape tree — or so people thought at the time. Instead, people living anywhere near these trees might wonder where some rancid smell is coming from. Is it rotten fish? Spoiled meat? Another gross substance? …..nope, it’s the blooms on the pear tree.
My social feeds have been full of stories of the Bradford pear this week. I’ve seen comments about people calling it the fish tree, the tuna tree, and some even worse names. Even its wikipedia page says the tree is best known for “its offensive odor.” How’s that for special? Arborists don’t like the tree because of the way it grows; its limbs break easily once the tree reaches a certain age, falling off in ice or windstorms. The tree was also designed to be sterile, but instead it cross-bred with other trees, resulting in invasive frankentrees. Any of them send up little shoots that create thickets that choke out native species. Here’s a bit more about the trees from Penn State University.
Many plant nurseries used to sell Bradford pear trees; surprisingly, you can still find the seeds on Amazon.* PSU recommends alternatives such as flowering dogwood, serviceberry and redbud.
PSU also offers up some jokes about the Bradford pear, such as: What’s the best use of Bradford pear in the landscape? A) Firewood! All jokes aside, the next time you see a tree with white flowers that smell like rotten flesh (or another disc
(* = amazon affiliate link)