Still leafy into December

… and what an education I received from researching this particular plant!

This is the "Cleveland pear" in our front yard (“Pyrus calleryana 'Chanticleer'” according to the Missouri Botanical Garden). More leaves to be raked. Normally we don't care; we just run over them with the lawn mower. But this year there are *so* many leaves (and needles and cones)! If we don't rake the leaves now, they'll have to be extracted from the mulch in the gardens later, and that's more tedious.

Not many frames these days. Today was a physical therapy session, the last session that insurance authorized for now.

[More than you want to know] From Missouri Botanical Gardens, http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a720 » “WARNING: LOCALLY INVASIVE SPECIES

“This plant is invasive in Missouri. The species should not be planted in the Midwest. Control and Alternatives: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Gardening/Gardening%20Help/PDFs/Invasive%20Plants/Bradford%20and%20Callery%20Pear%20Control.pdf

“Callery pear is native to China and Taiwan. It is an upright-branched ornamental tree. It grows pyramidal to columnar in youth, but tends to become oval to spreading with age. It is noted for its early profuse spring bloom, quality glossy green foliage and often excellent fall color. Shoots on species plants are thorny, but some cultivars are thornless. It produces small, inedible, greenish-yellow fruits (to 1/2” diameter)
» http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-10-14
» http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2014-12-16
which are of little practical value or ornamental interest. The specific epithet and common name honor Joseph Callery, a French missionary, who discovered and collected this plant in China in 1858. In 1917, seed was brought to the U.S. from China for hybridization experiments aimed at improving fireblight resistance for the common fruiting pear (P. communis). The experiments generally proved unsuccessful. In the 1950s, callery pear emerged in U.S. commerce as a promising new ornamental tree, leading to massive landscape plantings. By the 1980s, concerns about both overplanting and structural weakness (limb breakage from wind, ice and snow) began to surface. Today, additional concerns about invasiveness (non-sterile forms are escaping cultivation and naturalizing in some areas) are being addressed. ‘Chanticleer’ (synonymous with and also known as ‘Cleveland Select’, ‘Select’, ‘Stone Hill’ or ‘Glen’s Form’) is considered to be one of the best of the cultivars currently available in commerce. It is a tight, narrow, pyramidal, thornless ornamental pear tree that typically grows 25-35' tall and 15' wide. Some specimens appear almost columnar in habit. Oval, glossy dark green leaves (to 3" long) have slightly toothed margins. Leaves dance in the breeze due to long petioles. Leaves turn attractive reddish-purple in fall. Five-petaled, creamy white flowers (each to 3/4" wide) in dense corymbs appear in profusion in early spring. Selected by Scanlon Nursery in 1959. U.S. Plant Patent PP2,489 issued March 23, 1965.

“Problems
“‘Chanticleer’ is an attractive ornamental flowering tree for the landscape. It is noted for its resistance to fireblight, particularly in the northern parts of its growing range. It is susceptible to limb breakage or splitting from strong wind, snow or ice, but is much stronger than some other cultivars such as P. calleryana ‘Bradford’. Viable seed can be produced when Callery pear cultivars cross-pollinate.”

Species page at PhytoImages, http://phytoimages.siu.edu/cgi-bin/dol/dol_terminal.pl?taxon_name=Pyrus_calleryana&rank=binomial

1 year ago (“Humorous … at a price!”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2014-12-02
2 years ago (“Zoe”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-12-02
3 years ago (“Backward-flash”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-12-02
4 years ago (“Kitchen anemone”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-12-02

[ IMG_7529A8x12Cstm :: f/5 :: 1/80" :: ISO-200 :: 34mm ]

[GaryW]

Very pretty tree and photo of it!