Last week, a mighty gust blew apart a Bradford pear street tree near my house. A nasty clump lay on the ground for a day or so after that. This, of course, led to obsessive fretting on my behalf, wondering about the fate of this tree.
It’s sad, but some trees just can’t be trusted as a street tree, and the Bradford pear is one such tree, according to city ordinance, even. It’s notorious for falling to pieces with any wind or snow load just as it seems to have matured into a fine tree.
The Bradford pear is a fine tree, indeed. With its striking (albeit smelly) spring bloom and glossy green foliage, the tree bears amazing fall foliage that lingers well into the winter. With all these great attributes, there has to be at least one trait that squashes it all, right?
It’s their tendency to snap, of course.
So after the chunk lay longer than I cared to witness, the city did come and pick it up. Looking on from my front porch, I was barking internally that the whole tree needed to be taken out!, because the limb that snapped from the tree left a gaping wound that would be the source of more trouble! But of course they could not hear my desperate thoughts, and I resolved to drop a call to the city Forester.
Then later, jubilation, as I saw the cones set up to block the area for tree removal the next day! I have to say, the Urban Forester in this town seems to be working and doing what’s right for the city. Well done, Noblesville.
So while it seems that a tree hugger such as myself would go into fits over a tree that could seemingly stay coming down, there are just some times when an injured tree left standing is far worse than no tree at all. Now, if they could just read my mind about what I’d like for them to plant in its place.