Callery Pear or Bradford Pear

(Rosaceae - Rose Family)

Form

• medium-sized ornamental tree, which can double as a shade tree at maturity
• cultivars mature at about 45' tall by 20' wide, on average
• upright pyramidal to upright columnar growth habit in youth, becoming upright oval, broad oval, or spreading with maturity (depending upon cultivar)
• rapid growth rate, especially in youth

Culture

• full sun to partial sun
• performs best in full sun in moist, well-drained soils, but is very adaptable to poor soils, clay soils, soils of various pH, restricted root zones, pollution, drought, heat, and heavy pruning
• cultivars are propagated primarily by grafting onto rootstock, but other methods of propagation include seeds and rooted cuttings
• Rose Family, with all modern cultivars resistant to fireblight in northern areas of its range, but many cultivars susceptible to fireblight in southern regions; no other serious disease or pest problems exist
• abundantly available in ball and burlap or container form
• Callery Pear is somewhat sensitive to being transplanted in Autumn, and care should be taken to amend the soil, fertilize, water thoroughly, mulch adequately, and avoid Winter salt spray, to enhance survival chances during the first Winter
• the major liability that this species has is its poor branching habit, which renders the tree a sitting duck for major branch shearing at times of high winds or heavy ice load
• this liability is caused by the numerous weak crotch angles, due to the vertical co-dominant central leaders that repeat up and down the canopy, with narrow angles of separation betwen the vertical branches, having little strength at their points of attachment to each other
• selective thinning every one to two years, to continuously remove some of these vertical branches from the canopy, will allow strong winds to pass through the canopy (rather than hit it full force, often with a full complement of wet, heavy foliage) and also slowly strengthen the remaining branches, reducing the chances of storm damage

Foliage

• medium-green to dark green, very glossy, alternate, ovate to broad-ovate to orbicular, with a cordate to truncate base, acuminate tip, and finely serrated margins
• foliage flutters in the breeze due to the leaf base and the 2" long petiole
• often holds its green Summer color well into November or December, with fall color being quite variable with the cultivar and given year, being green, purple, orange, yellow, red, or often a mixture of the above colors

Flowers

• white 3" wide showy inflorescences, in mid- to late April from the spur shoots, effective for one week as they emerge before or with the foliage

Fruits

• green-brown to chartreuse with subtle small dots, inconspicuous due to the faded color and being hidden by the dense foliage on the spur shoots

Twigs

• reddish-brown to gray and stout, with relatively large, fuzzy, light tan-gray terminal buds on the spur shoots and branch tips

Trunk

• gray and fissuring with age, and often showing the swollen graft union at the base of the trunk

ID Summary

• stout, ascending, rapidly-growing co-dominant leaders with stubby spur shoots characterize this ornamental tree species, which is covered in showy white inflorescences in early to mid-Spring, quickly replaced by glossy green ovate foliage that flutters in the Summer breezes, holding the green color very late into Autumn and finally coloring with solid or mixed warm colors

USAGE

Function

• specimen, focal point, border, entranceway, shade, and especially as a street tree, often planted due to its quick establishment and showy Spring flowers

Texture

• medium texture in foliage and bold texture when bare
• thick density in foliage and when bare

Assets

• rapid growth and establishment
• Spring-flowering accent ornamental tree
• glossy dark green foliage flutters in the breeze
• good to excellent late Autumn color
• good street tree (when young)
• good shade tree when mature (if it is limbed up)

Liabilities

• the standard cultivar 'Bradford' is extremely prone to wind or ice storm damage (due to its narrow crotch angles, especially those found at the base of the large co-dominant central leaders that branch in a whorled fashion at about 6 feet off the ground)
• most modern cultivars are still very susceptible to storm damage to their canopy with age, despite their better branching habits and advertisements to this effect
• all current cultivars are resistant to fireblight in their northern regions, but this can be a moderately serious problem for some cultivars in the humid southern regions

Habitat

• zones 4 to 8 for most cultivars (a notable exception is 'Bradford', rated for zones 5 to 8)
• native to Korea and China

SELECTIONS

Alternates

• white spring-flowering trees (Cercis canadensis alba, Cornus florida, Magnolia stellata, Malus 'White Angel', etc.)
• trees with strongly ascending branches or co-dominant leaders (Acer x freemanii, Amelanchier [treeform], Carpinus betulus, Ginkgo biloba, etc.)
• quickly-establishing ornamental trees (Cercis canadensis, Koelreuteria paniculata, Malus 'Robinson', Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan', Prunus subhirtella 'Pendula', etc.)

Variants

• all of the cultivars of Callery Pear noted below are commonly to abundantly available:
• Pyrus calleryana 'Aristocrat' - attractive wavy leaf margin is unique among all cultivars, not as densely flowering as others but still a knockout for its flowers, excellent red to yellow fall color, fireblight susceptibility in southern states, to 45' tall by 25' wide
• Pyrus calleryana 'Autumn Blaze' - spectacular crimson fall color defoliates by mid-October, allowing Autumn transplanting for those willing to take the risk, with a somewhat horizontal habit at maturity that is atypical, having a very few thorns and susceptible to fireblight in southern areas, to 40' tall by 30' wide
• Pyrus calleryana 'Bradford' - narrow crotch angles and the proximity of most large branches within 1.5' of each other on the lower section of the trunk are the great liability of this once-standard cultivar, making it extremely subject to wind or ice storm damage with age, becoming broad oval and very spreading at maturity, with the best mixed fall color of any cultivar (red, purple, orange, and yellow), to 50' tall by 40' wide, slightly less cold hardy than other cultivars (zone 5); this is the once extremely popular selection that should absolutely not be used today with the availability of better-branched and more upright cultivars
• Pyrus calleryana 'Cleveland Select' (also known as 'Chanticleer', 'Select', or 'Stone Hill') - increasingly popular and with several cultivar names, a good urban tolerant cultivar, densely flowering and with good red-orange fall color, with an upright pyramidal form, to 35' tall by 20' wide
• Pyrus calleryana 'Redspire' - narrow pyramidal crown at maturity, very urban tolerant, good yellow and red fall foliage, purported to have one of the best branching habits, susceptible to fireblight in southern regions, to 45' tall by 25' wide

NOTES

Translation

• Pyrus is the Latin name for pear.
• calleryana is named after J. Callery, a French missionary to China who collected the original tree and brought it to the Western World.

Purpose

• Callery Pear is a symmetrically-growing ornamental tree, with good Spring flowers, late fall color, and a rapid growth rate.

Summary

• Pyrus calleryana is a tree grown for its pyramidal, symmetrical growth habit that rapidly establishes in the landscape, its glossy dense dark green foliage that ripples in the breeze, its good but very late fall color, and especially for its white dense showy inflorescences in Spring.