No.

If you look harder, you can get something better and more unique.

There are beautiful narrow magnolias that would be hardy to zone 5. Check out the offerings at Rare Find Nursery.

Callery Pears... aka bradford, cleveland select, aristocrat and so on, are on the do-not-plant lists all across the nation.

The poor branch structure is just the tip of the iceberg as to why you shouldn't plant one since this was slightly improved with cleveland select, there are other concerns you should have.

These are weak wooded. Since they are very early to leaf out, they catch the wind in spring storms and leave a lot of expensive destruction in the wake of a t-storm. If you're lucky, it won't total your car or kill someone when it falls but most of the time it does something like that or ends up costing thousands in removal and disposal costs.

A poor investment to say the least.

In addition to that, in much of the country they are in weed status, taking over wetlands or woodlands and choking out natural plants that are vital to wildlife. As usual the corporations stand in the way of banning the sale and cultivation of these pears because they are a huge money maker.

I know there really are not many trees that are that useful medium size and fast growing with flowers. In fact about the only tree I can think of that meets that description other than red maple, is yellowwood and those have narrow crotch angles as well, albeit it is a much better tree.

Now that you know better, you don't have to get taken.

I would also say a promising alternative is Yoshino cherry or similar. I know they are not problem free and they may be a tad smaller than you want but they grow rapidly and have showy flowers. If you can find it, yellowwood.

Thank you all for the info and suggestions. After reading your responses I've decided not to purchase a Cleveland Pear tree.
laceyvail, I looked-up your suggestion and have found many promising varieties of magnolia that fit my criteria, thanks.

Yay! Thanks for listening. I think you'll like a Magnolia.

I know a lot of people don't like pears, but with proper care (pruning) and the correct location the weak structure shouldn't be an issue at all. I planted 8 of them in a row, but I had an open area away from the house and roads. Fast growing trees are never going to be as strong as slow growth.

I would steer clear of them from your description of the location.

I live in a reasonably new development so nearly all the trees are young. I have planted a few slow growing oaks etc. in strategic places and fast growing shorter lived trees as fillers. Once the fast growing trees have lived out their life the big slow growth trees should be maturing enough to provide the shade and there won't be a start over situation.

Only time will tell if my plan is a good one.

Except for the whole invasive thing, the above theory would be ok with me.

Many of my neighbors have both the old and newer("better") varieties of pear trees, most are around 10-15 years old. So far none of them have had any problems. At what age do these trees start to become weak and split? They really are beautiful, and I would definitely plant one if I knew how to prune it correctly to prevent future problems.

After looking at the site laceyvail suggested, I think I have found a substitute for the pear tree. Do any of you know anything about magnolia Daybreak? From what I've read it gets 25'-30' tall and stays narrow 10'-15' which is perfect for where I want to plant. I'm finding different info on zones, some sites say 5 others say 6 (I live in IL zone 5). I need to buy one that's already 10'-15' tall to provide instant privacy, which will be expenive, so I want to make sure it will survive.

Pears have a strong musty odor when in flower.

Yoshino cherry trees are broad-growing, with long horizontal branches. One in Maryland had an average crown spread of 56' when measured in 1990.

All the corrective pruning in the world isn't going to make their wood stronger or make them leaf out after spring thunderstorm season or drop leaves before ice season.

The smell alone is more than enough to kill my interest. If I was going to put up with it, it would have to at least be coming from an orchard pear - which was going to be giving me luscious fruits.

I do grow those. The Asian orchard pears are actually more ornamental than the Callery pears, at least when in bloom and leafing out in spring.

Unless you want that tall, narrow solid cloud of white effect.

The Yoshino Cherry and Yellowwood gets too wide for my location, but very pretty trees.

I'm planning on getting the Magnolis Daybreak if I can find a local nursery that carries it.

Thanks again for all your help.
And if you have any other suggestions on tall, narrow, deciduous trees/shrubs please share.

If you haven't got room for either of those then it's a good thing you didn't go with a pear because those get even larger.

Two local nurseries told me they only get 15-20ft wide.
After reading your post, iforgotitsonevermind, I looked it up and they get between 25-30ft wide.
It's really disheartening that people in the landscaping industry, who should be knowledgable, would give wrong info.

Every planting has a time span. A tree or shrub will get so big in so many years. And even that varies with individual site conditions and other factors. Dimensions stated are always representative at best.

Commercial sources are often giving heights for short periods, 10 or perhaps 20 years.

Judging from the way the branches come off the trunk (quite upright), and the present height (I said 8 ft. but after looking at it yesterday, it's at least 10), I can't imagine it getting 15-30 feet. This is a narrow tree. Height of 30 feet yes, but not width.

Or maybe they were estimating the size after the trees split. Because then that size sounds about right.

With folks selling callery pears, all ethics are out the window.

I recently visited Cleveland this past weekend (April 16 - 19) and the trees looked gorgeous. Unfortunately I live in a higher zone (10) and was wondering if it might survive there. Most of the research I did said it grows from zones 4-9. I would love to have one in my yard but wouldn't want to waste the money if it wouldn't survive. Does anybody know if it would survive or not?

Cleveland has 'Cleveland' pears planted there?

imisskd, you are in hurricane alley and want to plant the weakest wooded tree known to man? That doesn't make sense. If you want to plant a tree down there that reminds you of cleveland, why don't you plant something like a red maple, bald cypress, elm, crepe myrtle, turkey oak, sycamore or sugarberry?

I wouldn't plant one of the Callery pears, if for no other reason than there are already a zillion of them planted EVERYWHERE around here. It's very obvious because they are in full bloom right now, along with the Forsythia (2 zillion) and those poofy purple azaleas.

Thank god there are some nice Magnolias, Redbud, and some early fruit trees blooming otherwise it would get very repetitive.

There are crepe myrtles all along the streets right outside my neighborhood and I hate them. They're pretty bad in wind, as well. They're usually always fallen over after a Florida storm (which most really aren't all that bad).

And I'd love to have a flowering tree. That's why I was asking about the Cleveland Select.

But you really are limited on account of not having enough chilling hours down there. You may not even get reliable flowering if the tree does manage to persist. If all you want are spring flowers Cassia is a better adapted choice. Very showy yellow flowers. I also forgot about southern magnolia. Half the folks on this forum would kill to be able to grow one of those.

I bought a home 5 years ago and it has 2 Cleveland Pear trees in the back yard away from the house. They were beautiful but when I got home today from work, both trees split and are going to have to come down. My neighbor also had one split in today's storm. The trees were about 40' tall. Now I will have to replace them with a stronger tree, probably a maple variety.