Here they started to get dapled color then got frosted pale or a dead brown happens most years but I bet in milder climate they have decemt early december color. Too bad that is their invasive band.

If I walk around the ones here at work and brave the snipped 3/4" sucker stubs left sticking out of the rocks and snow the pics would be pretty disappointing.

In summary it has the potential for good fall color here but it happens too late for a non ocean moderated climate.

no

i dont waste film nor digital space for carp trees ...

use google images

ken

Ken, just go ahead and post a pic.
They are living things you know.....

Most years they color well here.

This is not one of them. They were starting to, almost peaked, then a week of deep freezes with a couple nights into the teens ended it. Many still have some blackened leaves on them.

The pears in northern VA look awful - the foliage is a dull brown.

I have seen pretty decent ones during our most mild falls. This year some of their invasive children that pop up in the yuck honeysuckle along the highways were just starting to turn purple when the cold hit and browned them all.

I am not an Asian tree hater. I have two metasequoias, a Cornus controversa and some Acer palmatums.

These pears are over rated but they do grow in fresh suburban wastescapes and they do flower...I guess that's a negative for walkers or those who go outside who don't like the urine order. For houseridden retirees or people stuck in their cars the flowers are reliable and look good though. Ya just oughta see the seed litter at my work.

I guess Arkansas has mild falls. It is sunny out right now.
All the Callery's look spectacular. All shades from yellow thru purple.

I'm not sure fall color is a suitable justification for these trees. Like most other ornamental trees, fall color is extremely variable based on specific cultivar and local weather conditions. It may be good one year and only so-so another.

If fall color is a big factor in tree choice, there are many others that offer more reliable and equally stunning fall color.....most Japanese maples, sourwood (Oxydendron), serviceberry (Amelanchier) and tupelo (Nyssa) all offer excellent fall color and few negative issues, unlike the pears.

Well, the fall color and the blooms are a bonus for me.
I like the pretty shiny green leaves and the symetrical shape of the tree.

Don't know what part of Arkansas you live in, but the pear's like everything else didn't do squat for fall color. Our early repeated low 20's froze the leaves before they could turn.

Im in Jacksonville, AR. Central part of the state close to Little Rock.

10 responses and still no pics......................

here you go tl, this is the best BP pic that I have. This was taken at the Nat'l Arboretum. The BP's in their parking lot were unceremoniously replaced with Crape Myrtles many years ago.
Now it's your turn, it's your thread show us some pics. If you don't have a camera borrow one. You've appointed yourself BP champion, prove your point with pics. (if you can).
{{gwi:474682}}

I honestly have seen plus fall color out of a Bradford clone. Think it was three or four years ago when we had the late mild fall. Maybe I have a pic on my old phone. Think one was about 25 feet from my 68 Ford (outside of split and fall or fruit drop and stain range) on a nice fall day at our work location by the farm field. The background was pretty scenic.

I am also sure at least one sheltered SOMEPLACE in StLouis had good color this year.

Perhaps not a species for AR but Prunus sargentii is a much more attractive option. Blooms and fall color are far superior on a non-invasive plant.

Here is some that were down the street or in the neighborhood. Sorry, some of the pics in the link are of them broken. I guess they're kinda pretty in their own non-native, short-lived, self-destructive, lollipop, way. Hi gardengal, I'm sorry I flamed on you over five years ago, I always felt bad about that.
Will

Here is a link that might be useful: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/w4i0a/library/broken%20Bradford%20Pears?sort=4&page=1

Will, have absolutely no recollection of that so must not have been very upsetting at the time :-) But the apology is very gracious anyway even if I don't remember so thanks for that!! We're all garden friends here on GW, right??

Okay, well I'm glad you don't recall it, though you could just be being humble. Of course we are. : )

They often do color well here. This year, the remaining leaves are black. They had just started turning when we had lows of 25, 19, and 18 a couple days apart.

Check out this beauty........

In our area, the smell of these trees would be enough to keep me from having them somewhere I might be outside in the yard. The flowers can look good from a car if the tree is planted on a roadway, but later in the year the litter even on roadway areas is pretty formidable. I might consider getting another tree to plant, particularly if your yard is close to any neighbors; these trees seem to be planted often in new neighborhoods by folks who want quick growth. The resulting offspring from one tree, the neighborhood smell at blossoming, and the fall litter can make neighbors resent the tree.
Renais

I'm a definite Bradford hater -- if I want to insult something that only has the thinnest shell of superficial appeal but is really very poor I'll often refer to it is as the Bradford pear of sweet potatoes/cars/paintings/etc. -- but even as a Bradford hater, I've frequently noticed the attractive deep red fall color of the invasive callery seedlings in my pasture. There's a photo in the link below (an old thread on this forum) that's very similar, although I don't have quite so many as in the photo. I haven't noticed very nice color on the full grown intentionally planted trees, but maybe it's the same and I just haven't noticed. I'll say the color in the photo above taken in the parking lot looks like the color is tending toward a duller brownish red. That tree/photo doesn't do much for me. It does more for me than the flowers in the spring, though. I think a flowering wild plum or peach or even some wild cherries are much prettier than Bradford pears. I even prefer the gentler beauty of a flowering red maple.

One thing I like about callery pears, though, is what handy rootstocks they make for eating pears. If I ever want another pear tree I rarely have to dig any holes or plant or water anything, because callery pears are invasive enough that I can mostly just find a volunteer to let size up for a year and then graft onto (if not one to graft right away.)

Here is a link that might be useful: thread with photo of callery seedlings in pasture