Just returned from a trip south and saw the same as you alongside the highways, from Columbia, SC to Charlotte and northward. Also saw some native plum trees, but they were few and far between...mostly the very agressive and brittle c. pears. Daughter in TN bought a house with one in the front yard, but it bit the dust in the recent ice storm. Now she has to pay to have it removed.

Westword (one of the local papers here in Denver) had a rather interesting take on the callery pear a couple years ago, particularly it's rather unique fragrance. I wonder what the implications are when these "well to do" areas' favorite tree makes the entire neighborhood smell like a certain bodily fluid (perhaps bring the idea of "desperate housewives" up a notch).

Hm...bad smell, bad crotches....yeek!

+oM

Yea that smell is plenty bad. Here is something else I noticed. The newest McMansions which are spaced out with identical roofs in one of the most expensive looking gated communities and which is still growing as new houses are added has Callery Pears neatly spaced perfectly along every single street and lined up all along the outer edge of the wall that surrounds the G. C.. On the inner streets are lines of them perfectly spaced, its as if the whole place is done up in them. The only other trees you see are pines. Visually you see this landscaped version and right next to it in the wild part is a thicker than what you would think possible Callery forest, its like a story unfolding showing a timeline of events. Unbelievable.

I checked our states list and Callery Pear is on the invasive list but not the banned list. Purple loosestrife is on the banned list, illegal to grow or sell here.

Maybe...just maybe...there's a silver lining here, as the Callery pear monoculture spreads across the land! I can see the headline now: "Pear trees devastated by new insect/disease"-take your pick. It could happen, as they say!

+oM

Another headline: "pear tree has bad crotch, smell"

Smooth brome is in the same category, at least here, invasive but not banned, and it is still touted as a great grass to plant for rangeland even though all one has to do is visit any front range open space or park to see its lovely habit of choking out native grasses and forbes.

I like this one and think he nailed the smell.

http://www.theawl.com/2013/04/this-spring-new-york-city-smells-much-less-like-sperm

Haha, that was the premise of the Westword article saying
something to the effect of all these pear trees are turning our cities into
"Semenville, USA."

I guess I'm somewhat fortunate the in my neighborhood, at least, the only flowering tree you're likely to stumble across is a crab apple.