On Sat, 22 Jul 2006 15:50:47 -0500, George Shirley
wrote:

Jack W wrote:

The local MacDonald's has Bradford pears planted all around
it for decoration and they all bloomed last fall and set fruit and then
it all dropped. Made the owner mad with all that fruit on the ground,
making a mess, so he had them all cut down.


The Bradford was the ornamental tree of the future, developed just a
few miles south of here. It was supposedly disease/insect resistant,
no messy fruit, nice compact shape ...

However, as time has gone by, residents here have found that it is for
the most part brittle in wind.

That's why we don't have any. We often get winds up to 50 mph and the
Bradfords generally just snap off. Same with the ornamental plums people
plant around here. Got enough trouble with the pine trees snapping off
about 40 feet up and falling during hurricanes. Even oaks are brittle
around here, no tap roots. Only trees that didn't blow over during Rita
were those useless sweet gums.

George

I dislike the Bradford pear trees and that tree is the most popular
tree planted in my town. They grow fast, spread, and easily break
during storms. In bloom they look nice from a distance but the odor
is horrible. I have a 60-foot sweet gum tree next to my house--gives
shade, stops erosion, very strong, and virtually disease free. The
"sweet gum balls" can be annoying because their are thousands of them,
but I use the prickly balls in the flowerbeds on top of the
mulch--cats avoid my flower beds!