Many of you remember that i posted this link before A Tree With White Flowers That Smells Bad | Home Guides | SF Gate . The problem with posting links is the content is removed later. This is the content
"# A Tree With White Flowers That Smells Bad
BySF Gate ContributorUpdated October 07, 2020
Contrary to Shakespeare’s words, a rose by any other name does not always smell as sweet. One plant in the rose family (Rosaceae) is a tree that has beautiful white flowers, which are best enjoyed from a distance. Known as the tree with stinky white flowers, Callery pear tree blossoms (Pyrus calleryana) are offensive to most people’s sense of smell, with an aroma that contrasts sharply with their rose family relatives. Instead of sweetly perfumed roses, callery pear flowers smell like rotten fish. Hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 9, callery pears are planted in residential and commercial landscapes in part due to their drought, pest and pollution resistance.
Callery Pear Cultivars
Without rival, ‘Bradford’ is the most popularly planted callery cultivar. It was the original callery pear introduced in the U.S. and it exhibits the weakest structure. For many years, ‘Bradford’ was the frontrunner in the nursery trade until plant breeders sought to overcome its structural weakness. Resulting “improved” callery pear cultivars, such as ‘Aristocrat,’ ‘Redspire’ and ‘Chanticleer,’ also known as ‘Cleveland Select,’ promised to overcome the problems exhibited by ‘Bradford.’ However, even with slightly stronger branch forms, all callery pears are still susceptible to branch failure.
Features of Callery Pear Trees
Introduced in 1908, early United States callery pear trees had a worthy calling. In their native China and Korea, a variety of callery pear showed exceptional resistance to fire blight, a common disease of pear trees. Floridata points out that American horticulturists intended to breed this resistance into edible pear crops, but that endeavor never materialized. Instead, many cultivars of ornamental callery pears made their way into the nursery trade.
Other desirable features that catapulted callery pear as a popular ornamental selection were fast growth rate, stunning white floral display in spring, brilliant reddish-orange fall color and high resistance to drought and heat, according to Master Gardener Bill Klausing. Resistant to pests and pollution made it seem like the ideal tree for suburban and urban landscapes.
Flaws Including Callery Pear Smell
Beyond the offensive smell of the flowers, Callery pear trees have a serious flaw that overshadows their many good features. A vigorous growth rate stretches the limit of their structural integrity. The trees’ structure consists of crowded branches that are joined to the trunk at sharp angles. Within 15 to 20 years, many callery pears split apart, often due to wind and ice damage.
Another flaw this tree presents is its invasive potential. Callery cultivars are self-unfruitful, which means they cannot set fruit unless a different callery cultivar in the area lends pollen for fertilization. Successful cross-pollination yields trees that produce fruit and bear seeds, which are eaten and disseminated by birds. When these seeds germinate, they produce callery pear seedlings that populate natural and cultivated areas and edge out native plants. The callery pear is on the invasive plant list for some states and was given a “red alert” status in California in 2010.
Finally, there’s the stench. A tree that smells like fish, even if it’s just for a few weeks, isn’t one you want planted outside of your bedroom or living room windows. It also produces a significant amount of pollen, which affects sensitive individuals.
Alternatives to Callery Pear Trees
The University of Missouri Extension advises against planting all callery pear tree cultivars. Instead, consider planting native trees, such as serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) and sweet crabapple (Malus coronaria), hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9 and 4 through 8, respectively. Other choices include Japanese cherries (Prunus serrulata) and Chinese Pistache (Pistachia chinensis), which thrive in USDA zones 5 through 9 and 6 through 9, respectively. Some of the suggested alternatives have sweetly fragranced blossoms, especially the sweet crabapple and Japanese cherries.
If only an ornamental pear cultivar will do, the University of California Sonoma County Master Gardeners suggest a different pear species, Pyrus betulifolia. The ‘Dancer’ cultivar is reputed to have similar bloom and growth habits of callery pear, but with improved branching structure and higher disease resistance. All these alternatives have showy flowers, but without the offensive smell of callery pear."
If you have callery rootstock im not suggesting you chainsaw your orchard down to switch rootstock at this late date of the game. I’m suggesting for future plantings Pyrus betulifolia is a great replacement for callery rootstock. That is the way i went here on my farm. We still need a very hardy drought resistant tree. Nothing matches callery but BET rootstocks are very close. A great place to get them is Fruit Tree Seedlings | Willamette Nurseries rootstock clonal seedling fruit tree ornamental seedlings which typically sells out of stock very quickly. Callery since being added to invasive lists is not only hard to get but ill advised to use. Don’t misunderstand me i know someone might have a field full of callery which they might be grafting over. Wild trees will grow where they do. I’m fighting elm trees and cedar regularly.