I was out running errands this morning, and I spotted this tree:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

I pulled over, got out my iPhone, and voila!

[Botany]

1. A pear tree (Pyrus)

n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. You could be right; whatever it is, it bears no fruit. Just beautiful flowers! n/t

[Botany]

4. To be honest it is an ornimental pear (Pyrus calleryana) ... "Bradford" or some other strain ....

.... and they are the devil and very invasive.

[Rebl2]

12. Last year

nurseries around here were trying to get people to get rid of Bradford pear trees because they are so invasive and not native to our area. One nursery even offered to let you pick out a tree to buy, and they would deliver for free, plant it and cut down and take the Bradford pear away.

[Botany]

27. Sadly it is too late to really get that Jeanie back into the bottle

You can see their sprouts everywhere. Birds eat the fruits and spread the seeds all over
via their crap. We are looking at a generational problem and those damn trees just do not
support our native insects which are the base level of the ecosystem's food web.

[Rebl2]

28. True

I have neighbors that have them and if we have a heavy wet snow, which doesn’t happen as often as it once did, the limbs seem to break easily. Think one neighbor finally cut their tree down.

[Botany]

29. People need to be able to I.D. the young ones and cut them down and treat the X-sections with ...

... an herbicide. And the wild ones are a cross between varieties they get big nasty ass fruit spurs which
are like thorns. Late summer and fall is a good time to do this because the pear leaf turns purple to red
and the plant will take the chemical down to its roots and kill it. If you don't want to use a chemical you
can cover them with black plastic and wait a year but that is a pain in the ass and often doesn't work.

So many of our common landscape plants are in reality "green cancers." Burning Bush, rose of sharon,
privet, Norway maple, buckthorn, barberry, English Ivy, Wintercreeper, vinca minor, day lilly, bittersweet,
honeysuckle, eucalyptus, maiden grass, tamarisk, and a lot of the ornamental grass too are all real pests.

[alfredo]

30. During an ice storm our Bradford pear broke down completely, Only a foot of the trunk remained

I made a nice cane out of a branch.

[Rebl2]

31. Oh yes they don't

like ice either.
We had snow last night, traffic a nightmare during rush hour, and this afternoon all the snow has melted. We got a couple inches and poof it’s gone now. We even had thunder snow which is rare for us. I didn’t hear it, but a local meteorologist talked about it.

[alfredo]

32. Every February we have a warm up for a week or two, but winter will return

[Walleye]

3. Wow, nice, spring time out there already?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Thank you, my dear Walleye! Well, spring IS coming right along, it seems! n/t

[Bristlecone]

5. Love it!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. Thank you, my dear Bristlecone! So glad you do. ♥ n/t

[marigold20]

6. Beautiful - so jealous.

We are at least six weeks from spring. Thanks for the photo.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

15. Aw, I'm sorry your spring is so far away, my dear marigold20 . . .

I'm glad you enjoyed the photo!

[pandr32]

7. That is gorgeous!

Just what we need to see. Spring is nigh.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. Thank you so much, my dear pandr32! It IS nigh for sure. ♥ n/t

[Diamond_Dog]

8. This reminds me that spring is right around the corner!

Nice shot, Peggy!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. Thank you so much, my dear Diamond_Dog!

Every day it looks closer!

[SheltieLover]

9. Gorgeous!

Ty for sharing!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

18. Thank you so much, my dear SheltieLover!

I love to share!

[SheltieLover]

25. And we love you for it, Peggy.

[Rebl2]

10. Seems a little early

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Thank you for having a look, my dear Rebl2 . . .

Usually these trees bloom in January, in this location.

[Rebl2]

26. Oh, okay.

[Callalily]

11. Oh how beautiful!

White and it's not even snow! hahahahaha

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. Thank you so much, my dear Callalily!

No snow around these parts, lol!

[slightlv]

21. I have more than a few Bradford Pear trees

in my side yard. I look forward to them blooming out, as a signal of the nearness of Spring. Enjoyed your pic... and looking forward to seeing my trees looking like that!

And yes, I know B. Pears are invasive. But you can't deny their beauty in the early Spring. Still, I am tired of picking up the limbs and branches that fall in the slightest winds. (gryn)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. My dear slightlv!

I've heard about the Bradford Pear trees; I don't believe that this tree is one of those.

They don't shed branches in any sort of wind and they're not invasive at all.

[OilemFirchen]

23. FTR, these are now banned in Ohio.

The growing, selling and planting of Bradford Pear trees is now banned in the state of Ohio – here’s why.

https://weather.com/science/nature/video/ohio-becomes-first-state-to-ban-growing-selling-planting-of-invasive-bradford

(Transcript available.)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. That does make sense, given how they behave. However, I don't think this tree is one of those. n/t