Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yeah, they really are, and IMO, they are horrible trees. I was so glad to read this article this morning, so glad to learn the larger nurseries in the KC area no longer sell them.
I am also very disappointed to see that the ones we thought might be totally fireblighted a few weeks ago are putting out all new growth. Drat, I SO wanted to take them down!
Thanks Tina for posting this article. When we first moved to Atlanta 30 years ago I was fascinated with the Bradford pear tree. It is literally everywhere in Atlanta. But soon I started noticing all the split trees after storms and heard talk about how bad they smelled-which I don't think was addressed in this article.
We bought a house with a Bradford pear lined driveway and that was a mistake. They dropped seeds all over which stained, the birds it attracted pooped all over the driveway. Still I never could bring myself to cut them down as they were mature and, yes they are pretty in the spring.
I love studying trends in horticulture just like fashion and food. Bradford and photinia frazeria come to mind. Once the darlings of every builder are now the most maligned plants I know of. Add to that Mimosa trees. Man, those are proving to be a huge mistake all over the country. They take over native species, have nasty suckers all over the lawn, yet there are people who love them and insist on planting them.
We used to have an extremely knowledgeable poster here who got in such a rant about mimosa trees that he eventually got banned because of his strident posts and attacks on people who didn't agree with him.
We used to have an extremely knowledgeable poster here who got in such a rant about mimosa trees that he eventually got banned because of his strident posts and attacks on people who didn't agree with him.
You don't suppose they would extrapolate that to photinia haters do you?
You don't suppose they would extrapolate that to photinia haters do you?
If they do, I'm in deep trouble.
Lol- No. The guy I'm thinking of had as his status "Hoping to have One Million Rep Points in no time" or something like that and almost every post he begged for rep points. Also he had no patience with dissenters, called names, etc. Don't know if he got banned or just gave up but while he was here he made incredible contributions and I miss him. It has been probably 2 years since he's been gone.
I planted a few at my (then) house in the late 1980s. A few years later I read that I'd made a terrible choice, that they could be blown down or split. After I moved away, a couple of them did get knocked down during a storm. The neighbor righted and staked them. I just checked Google street view and see that they are still there.
I think I know who you mean. He was great with tree ID and knew a lot about anything tree. I'm pretty sure he was the big Bradford Pear hater. LOL Azoria I think he hated them more than you hate those photinia!
When we first moved here there were more Bradfords than now. In the intervening years many were lost in the storms that rampaged through here in the last few springs. Several people had them lining their driveways and it is such a beautiful sight in the early spring to see a long drive like that covered in white. One of our neighbors has a log row on one side and on the other a row of dogwoods. It is pretty but I hate the days when the pears are blooming because of the stink. That alone would be enough to put me off of them.
In one of the classes I took on pruning the tree expert got asked about them specifically in the question and answer period. In passing he mentioned that there were several varieties or cultivars in the process of being developed to reduce the tendency to split at maturity. I won't bore everyone with the details but it was fascinating to us in the class as he also explained more about the reason for the problems and why it hadn't been known at the beginning of the craze for them.
I think the use of nandina has also reached the same point. Some are less invasive but quite a few are following that mimosa tree into the wilds. I believe our tree expert also mentioned those in a negative light more than once.
Being a Southern Girl I absolutely love nandina, especially the miniature cultivars "Firefly" and "moonbay". They give such good year round color, the birds love them and they don't have many pests or problems. Of course they are used extensively in Southern gardens.
Having become a southern garden girl I love mine, too. They are a dwarf variety that replaced a dwarf loropetalum that could not tolerate the place they were in. The nandina are one of the ones that is not supposed to be invasive which is why I picked them. You can't pass a store, bank, gas station or municipal building in this area without seeing at least a few nandina in the landscaping. They just are so durable and easy going they make sense as foundation plants for many places.
Tina sorry to hijack your thread. I meant to say I was sorry about the new growth earlier. It's hard to take the proverbial axe to something trying so hard to live, isn't it?
Thanks Tina for posting this article. When we first moved to Atlanta 30 years ago I was fascinated with the Bradford pear tree. It is literally everywhere in Atlanta. But soon I started noticing all the split trees after storms and heard talk about how bad they smelled-which I don't think was addressed in this article.
We bought a house with a Bradford pear lined driveway and that was a mistake. They dropped seeds all over which stained, the birds it attracted pooped all over the driveway. Still I never could bring myself to cut them down as they were mature and, yes they are pretty in the spring.
I love studying trends in horticulture just like fashion and food. Bradford and photinia frazeria come to mind. Once the darlings of every builder are now the most maligned plants I know of. Add to that Mimosa trees. Man, those are proving to be a huge mistake all over the country. They take over native species, have nasty suckers all over the lawn, yet there are people who love them and insist on planting them.
We used to have an extremely knowledgeable poster here who got in such a rant about mimosa trees that he eventually got banned because of his strident posts and attacks on people who didn't agree with him.
I'm glad to see the article ring some bells, NK. Dennis Patton, who was widely quoted in the article, is our Horticulture Extension agent and the master gardenrs' Fearless Leader. Dennis is invaluable to gardeners in our area.
You don't suppose they would extrapolate that to photinia haters do you?
If they do, I'm in deep trouble.
I had never heard of photinia until we moved to Kansas, where the previous owners of ourhome had as foundation plants (in an 18" strip along the foundation!!), some red-tipped, photinias a few scraggly HT roses, a line of gladiolas and two pathetic Rose of Sharons. OMG, it was so sad. I didn't know the photinias were invasive, but I did learn that they aren't really hardy here, so I yanked them when we had new foundation beds made.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
