Plant Image Data Base                                         

  Pyrus calleryana

                                    Callery Pear or Bradford Pear

• Form
  • medium-sized ornamental tree, which can double as a shade tree at maturity
  • cultivars maturing 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
  • 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
  • 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
• Foliage
  • medium-green to dark green, very glossy
  • 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

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

  Top