Learn / Ask The Landscape Professional
I have an Ornamental Pear Tree in my yard and the storm destroyed it. Should I replace it with the same type of tree?
Answer
The short answer is no. In my opinion,
Ornamental Pear Trees should never be
planted. If you already have them, take them out
when you can. Ornamental Pear Trees are all
over the place, in yards, along road ways, etc.
They are mainly fast growers and have pretty
off-white flowers, but that's where the trouble
starts. The trees have even been nicknamed
"Dead Squirrel Trees" because of the stench from
the white flowers. Not only that, the flowers only
last a couple weeks and then you are left with
50 weeks of a boring tree that doesn't even have
an interesting bark. They also tend to send up
suckers that need to be cut back periodically. The
big issue I have with Ornamental Pear trees is
that they have a weak limb structure. As the tree grows and the limbs are burdened
with snow and high winds, entire branches break off back to the main trunk as you
can see in the picture. Not only does that look terrible, the fate of the tree is doomed
and many times it will need to be replaced in less than 20 years. Far better choices
than Ornamental Pears are: 1) Japanese Stewartia 2) disease resistant Crab
Apples 3) Japanese Snowbell 4) Fringe Tree or 5) Sourwood.
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About Linda Lillie
Linda K. Lillie is the President of Sprigs & Twigs, Inc, the premier
landscape design and maintenance, tree care, lawn care, stonework, and carpentry
service provider in southeastern Connecticut since 1997. She is a graduate of
Connecticut College in Botany, a Connecticut Master Gardener and a national
award winning landscape designer for her landscape design and landscape installation work.
