It is spring, and trees are starting to bloom. One of the first to bloom is the Bradford pear, which turns out to be a huge horticultural “oops”.

Although it can be beautiful, this ornamental tree was supposed to be sterile. Mostly it doesn’t bear fruit and mess up the carefully groomed sidewalks of suburbia, unless there are other pear trees. Then it apparently can pollinate with every other kind of pear. And those offspring have 3″ thorns, choke out native trees, and are considered an invasive species. Lovely.

And spotting the invasive Callery pear is also pretty easy in the spring.

Bradford pears are EVERYWHERE when you know what you are looking for. These are behind a local business.