Scott makes several good points. Fireblight resistance is a major consideration in HotLanta. Unless you're planning to make perry, or you like eating green, unripe persimmons, you do not want perry pears - they are, for all intents and purposes, inedible - or at least, not very tasty, often with lots of astringency. Magness and Warren are top-quality pears, but both are pollen-sterile, and neither are very attractive to bees, as they produce little or no nectar. Anecdotal reports - and I'm beginning to believe them - are that they are best grown as a limb grafted into other variety trees here and there, rather than as a stand-alone tree - at least you'll get some bees visiting the Magness/Warren blossoms while they're working the other variety - as a stand-alone tree, there's not much to attract a bee to visit. Some pear enthusiasts are also claiming that unless you put Warren/Magness on a dwarfing rootstock, like quince(the fireblight susceptibility there scares me mightily), you'll wait 15 years or more for them to bear - and they may never fruit heavily. While I like Keiffer, I know that many folks don't, but it can take FB hits, shrug 'em off and keep on growing and bearing. Douglas is reputed to be better than Keiffer, while retaining similar FB-resistance. Pineapple is another one I like, and a friend in Cookeville TN is raving about the Pineapple pear crop this year - heavenly! Dabney is supposed to be another good FB-resistant hybrid selection that I didn't see on the list Scott linked.

You have to admit though that the bradford pear trees are beautiful. With their natural full shape, their early and abundant white blossoms, their red foliage in the fall and their rapid, low maintenance growth. It is no wonder they are so popular. They look like lollipops to me - not my idea of a natural shape. And they are stinky (everyone's smell is different). And they are becoming a pest because they cross-pollinate now with some of the "other" sterile ornamental pears (like Cleveland Select). Look around, you can see flowering young trees in vacant lots and on the edges of natural areas now.

try the fruit forum ...there are all kinds of fruit experts there .. ken

Sometimes trees can have off and on years, especially if the tree is young or there's inadequate chill. If a tree used up most of its limited energy last year, it may not blossom this year. Also, not blossoming could be a sign that the root system has had a chance to get established (if you just planted it last year). For a young tree, more growth of branches can mean energy is diverted away from fruit production. So it's probably nothing to worry about.