This past week, the landscape throughout much of Greater Columbus turned white almost overnight; not from an early spring snow, but from a blizzard of billowy white flowers of Callery pear trees!
It’s easy right now to see the showy white flowers of this once-popular street and landscape tree as it is among the first in central Ohio to flower in early spring.
And since last year, it has been illegal in Ohio to plant, grow or sell Callery pear, but outlawing this invasive plant hasn’t done much to cut down on the spread of the plant.
Beautiful, but highly invasive
While the profuse show of brilliant white flowers of Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) might seem a welcome sight in the still brown and gray landscape of central Ohio in early April, this non-native tree is incredibly invasive and aggressive, displacing many native plants that support many beneficial insects and pollinators.
Callery pear was once one of the most popular street and landscape trees in Ohio due to its early spring flowers, fall color and rounded crown. While the tree was initially thought to be unable to reproduce by seed and was bred to be sterile, numerous cultivated varieties (or cultivars) were able to cross-pollinate with each other and produce viable fruit and seed.
The white flowers seen in spring mature into small fruits which are eaten by birds that disperse seeds widely.
What can you do?
If you have Callery pear planted in your home landscape, consider removing it immediately. While it can be costly to remove mature trees, the environmental problems caused by this tree are much more costly to our ecosystem.
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While it has been illegal to grow sell or plant this tree in Ohio for a year now, the law does not require the removal of existing trees, so the spread of this invasive plant continues. There is no program to help cover the cost of removing Callery pear from the landscape.
Even if this tree was never planted in your yard, you may find it growing in various parts of the home landscape because its seed is spread so widely and germinates easily.
Callery pear seedlings pop up frequently in unmanaged areas such as shrub beds, tree lines, along fences, mulched areas and even in flower gardens.
Seedlings of Callery pear routinely sprout in my perennial bed and herb garden each spring, likely planted by the birds who frequented the plants and the bird baths in my gardens the previous summer. There are no Callery pear trees on my property or in the landscapes of nearby homes.
If you find seedlings or small Callery pear saplings growing in your landscape, pull them out by the stem, removing as much of the root as possible. Any regrowth should be pulled again or treated with a contact herbicide later this spring or summer.
The trunk of small trees should be cut at the soil surface with large loppers or pruners. Mature trees will require a saw to be used to cut the trunk at the surface of the soil.
Replace with a variety of natives
When replacing Callery pear trees or planting new trees in the landscape, consider planting a variety of native trees with a sequence of blooms that extends throughout spring and summer.
This will allow pollinators to have a food source for a longer period of time and will allow you to enjoy blooming flowers all spring and into summer.
Here is a list of potential replacements for Callery pear trees, which feature white flowers that bloom at different times during spring and summer:
Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) is an Ohio native with four seasons of landscape interest. You can find serviceberry in a large multistemmed shrub or trained to a small tree with a mature height of 15-25 feet.
Like Callery pear, serviceberry has a showy white flower and blooms early in spring, about the same time that Callery pear is in full bloom.
White eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) is a medium-sized tree with a mature height of 15-25 feet and a stately vase shape. The small, pea-like flowers of redbud bloom just after serviceberry, about the time that the first flowering crabapples begin to flower.
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White crabapple (Malus spp.) can be a suitable replacement for Callery pear, and there are hundreds of varieties to choose from. Crabapple varieties which feature white flowers include Adirondack, Beverly, David and Donald Wyman.
Carolina silverbell (Halesia Carolina) is a small- to medium-sized tree and an underutilized native tree which features beautiful, showy, bell-shaped white flowers in late spring and early summer. This tree attracts hummingbirds and hosts several species of moth and butterfly caterpillars.
Dogwood (Cornus spp.) is a delightful four-season tree with its exfoliating bark, brightly colored fruit and flowers in shades of white, pink, red and yellow, which bloom in spring. This small tree generally reaches 15 feet tall at maturity.
Leaves of dogwood in autumn turn from scarlet to a red-purple color, and the tree produces red fruit which lasts into autumn and attracts wildlife. Cornus kousa is a variety with large, 2-5-inch showy white flowers and fruit resembling a round raspberry.
Sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana) is a small tree which reaches 10-25 feet tall and flowers later in late May and June in Greater Columbus. This tree features cup-shaped 2-3-inch creamy white flowers with 9-12 petals and a sweet lemon fragrance.
This tree prefers acidic soils high in organic matter and unlike other magnolias, it will tolerate heavy clay or wet soils.
White fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus), like serviceberry, can be found as a multistemmed shrub or a small tree reaching 15-20 feet tall when mature. This tree features white flowers with slender petals that bloom in early June.
Mike Hogan is Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources and associate professor with Ohio State University Extension.
This article originally appeared on Farmers Advance: Garden: Bradford pear trees invade central Ohio
Reporting by Mike Hogan / Farmers Advance
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