Southerners seem to have a love/hate relationship with the Bradford Pear tree. In bloom they are majestic. And since they grow tall and fast, you normally find them in subdivisions, lining streets, and anywhere else a good looking tree is needed in a few years.

When they get older and are not topped and thinned, like the ones in the image below, all hell can break loose–literally.

My old house had three of these trees along the side of the house. It also had over 30 large pines trees, some topping 30 to 40 feet (9-12 meters). When a bad storm came through and a tornado set down not too far away, a couple pines broken off and caused minor damage. All three of the Bradford Pears split and deposited large branches on my house.

Lesson learned. Love the tree, take photos of them far, far, away from the house. Our next door neighbor has one between our two houses. I keep measuring to make sure if it falls our way that it won’t hit our home!

This was taken near our church. It a private property where they grow sunflowers for photo opportunities and general sale during the summer months. I took this right near sunset. A breeze was blowing hard, so I only cleaned up some of the image blur.