What to do when the dreaded Callery pear tree rears its head in Kentucky

It’s a little like the old B horror movies. The Jaws-like music cues up. The hapless and witless stars of the show are trying to escape the clutches of a pursuing demon. And they decide to go in the dark, musty smelling room full of axes, maces and sharp implements.

You’re standing in the back of the theater screaming “don’t go in there!” at the top of your lungs ...but where would Hollywood be without clueless heroes and hapless heroines?!

That sort of describes the case with the Callery pear. Each spring, after a few warm spells here and there, it starts. First the buds begin to swell. Then they start showing a little white. Then, seemingly all at once, they explode into full and stinky bloom. It seems any old abandoned lot looks like it’s covered in 12 inches of snow. That’s when you know you’ve just entered that scary, dark room — and there ain’t much you can do about it.

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Ok, let’s start out by being fair. The Callery pear is a pretty attractive tree. It has an upright oval, uniform shape. Summer leaves are a glossy dark green and in the fall they turn a wonderful mix of red, orange and deep wine. They will grow ANYWHERE.

Indeed, a number of years ago a few were planted along a strip mall near my house in the highlands. Later that summer (around July 4 if memory serves) more contractor work had to be done so the trees were dug in July with a backhoe scoop — and left above ground, unwatered and unprotected for three weeks! When the work was done, the contractor dropped them back in the holes, threw in some mulch and voila! The trees never missed a beat.

Try that with your precious native beech tree!

The trees in questions are members of the genus Pyrus — the same genus that gives us pears by the name of d’Anjou, Bosc and other delectable fall favorites. Pyrus calleryana is an Asian species brought into the US in the early 1900s as a potential source of resistance to fireblight, a devastating disease that then threatened the entire commercial pear production industry. It is from that germplasm that the first ornamental cultivar ‘Bradford’ was introduced to the US market.

Since that introduction a number of other cultivars of Callery pear have been introduced to the nursery trade: ‘Aristocrat’ (a Kentucky introduction!), ‘Cleveland Select’, ‘Autumn Blaze’ and others share the same basic ornamental and toughness traits. Unfortunately, they also all share the same list of negative traits.

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First off, Callery pears are wildly invasive. Birds eat the fruit and deposit the seeds all over, in nice little fertilizer packets. They germinate at very high rates and survive at astonishingly high percentages. Any old field left fallow for any length of time is quickly overcome with thick growth through which few plants can penetrate. It generally doesn’t invade dense woodlands but anything that shows any sign of openness is quickly conquered to the exclusion of just about all other plant species.

Secondly, Callery pears are notoriously weak wooded. Just when they start to hit a nice size in the landscape they start falling apart. The narrow branching angles so prevalent in the species make them particularly susceptible to snow breakage, wind breakage —and just walking down the street whistling a tune when a big old branch comes crashing down on your head kind of breakage.

So what to do about Callery pears? The first, best step is ... don’t plant them. Now by not planting Callery pears, we’re not going to reverse the invasiveness problem. That horse is already out the barn door. But the weak wooded character should be enough in itself to keep us looking elsewhere for tree species to plant.

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Want another option? Well you could ask Chris O’Bryan and the good folks at Limbwalker Tree Service. Originally contacted to remove some large old ‘Bradford’ pears on Washington Street in Louisville, they are working with the local neighborhood group on an experiment. They will pollard the mature trees — an aggressive form of pruning back to a single bud on each branch year after year — to reduce the size and weight of the trees and thereby reduce the potential for branch breakage.

O’Bryan said “if we can save some mature canopy in an urban area, why not give it a try. But this is a bit of a radical experiment.” 

My thoughts on the whole experiment thing ... if you’re heading into a dark and scary room with a demonic presence on your tail, I think Chris is exactly the kind of guy you’d want leading you into the light!

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old Lagrange Road, yewdellgardens.org/

IF YOU GO 

WHAT: Yew Dell Opening Weekend and Hellebore Day. Celebrate opening weekend at Yew Dell with hellebore sales and plant walks, Garden Gift Shop opening, Fairy Forest Fun and more. There’s also a hands-on pruning workshop from noon-1:30 p.m. (separate registration required.)

WHERE: Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old Lagrange Road

WHEN: Saturday, March 31, 10 a.m.-noon

COST: Free with paid admission

MORE INFORMATION: www.yewdellgardens.org