What are Bradford Pears trees, and are they bad?

This particular tree started getting known in the ’60s and rose to the popularity of being the go-to tree for cultivating pear. It was getting so popular that homeowners took it to their houses and planted them in their lawns because of their exquisite flowers in springs and white laced yard foliage in fall.

Bradford pear trees are maybe one of the most beautiful trees to use for landscaping. They are known for their luscious white blossoms, which lines a lot of streets and lawns across the US. But as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving.

Aside from their calming ambiance, these pear-bearing trees are notorious for their funky smell and their aggressive and selfish behavior of stealing nutrients from other plants or trees around them. They use up any resources available near their location and end up killing other plants in the process.

Like the Bradford pear tree, invasive tree species follow a different ecological law than other plants, pretty much like what cancer to a cell is. These trees don’t care about what type of plants or even it’s another Bradford pear tree. It will steal nutrients even if it doesn’t need them.

Aside from being a raging eater of food sources, the Bradford Pear tree is also known for its poorly engineered structure. These tree branches are known for being weak and easily break with storms or even strong winds. What’s worse is that even if it survives storms, the branches are already doomed to fail eventually at an early age.

Can you eat the fruit from a Bradford pear tree?

There are countless problems when planting Bradford Pear Trees, but its fruit being poisonous is not one of them. The tiny berries that these trees bear are not toxic but not edible and not considered food by humans. Some animals, though, will still eat the berries that fall off from ornamental trees. It’s not that tasty that it will attract animals, but they will eat the berries if they are hungry. If you have dogs in the house, we would recommend not letting them eat a large amount of these berries. There have been cases where it upsets a dog’s stomach.

How do I distinguish a Bradford Pear tree?

A Bradford tree is categorized as a small to medium-sized tree, which gives you an immediate idea of what to look for first in case you want to know if that tree in your street is a Bradford Pear. The average size of a Bradford ranges between 30 to 40 feet. Its branches and crowns usually grow in compact and symmetrical patterns that spread to an oval-like shape when it ages.

These trees have a particular low lifespan of somewhere between 15 to 25 years due to their easily damaged branches.

One particular obvious sign that a tree is a Bradford is the leaves and flowers. You simply can’t miss these white laced flowers surrounded by glossy green leaves, which sometimes turn gold, red, or pink in the fall. These trees are deciduous, which means they have the characteristic to shed their leaves during the fall.

To help you differentiate the Bradford trees, here are some of the most common characteristics of this tree

• The trees shape is usually pyramidal or egg-shaped
• Branches that are very close to each other and grow upward. Usually, the cause of the trees weaken the design
• There some thorny branches of this species
• Leaves are luscious green, with small teeth-like margins
• Leaves turn a different color on call. Usually, a mix between orange, red, and pink
• The flowers are white and usually have five petals in a round shape