Looks like the Bradford pear tree I have in my backyard. It grows quite an extensive root system, and many sucklings are growing from the roots right now, which can be quite annoying to get rid of.

HTH,

K.

the pros: nobody likes it.. nor recommends it .. here anyway ...

the cons: see above ... lol

ken

If it is one of the ABC pear series, they're invasive. They were hybrid to be sterile, but that was a miserable failure.

All up and down Route 50 between Annapolis and Washington, DC, in the spring are gorgeous white blooming trees. Aristocrat pears. Bradfords and (mine) Clevelands reseed and spread annoying roots everwhere.

Something else they've found here in the DC area, is that although they grow to be absolutely HUGE (rivaling Tulip Poplars) they also drop branches and eventually topple. Kinda like the Tulip Poplars.

If you really wanted to find out what this is, after the dire warnings, do a Google image search and you'll probably come up with a photo that does list the type and variety of this tree.

Judging by the shape, you'd probably love a gingko. But make SURE you don't get a female, because their fruit is STINKY, sticky, and attracts bees to the smashed, fermenting fruit. Just wander down Corcoran Street in DC, where the Japanese government gave DC ginko trees on the centennial of the country. All female. And back then, passive aggression wasn't even heard of. But they're truly beautiful and have a lot of varieties.

Bradford pear. I love them. You might have luck finding the dwarf variety.

http://www.lecooke.com/Images/Flowering/Pear/Jack_Flowering_Pear(RGB).pdf

Sandra 858, keep looking, surely you can find a better tree, see my Callery Reduction thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: Callery Reduction

'Bradford' is but one cultivar of Callery pear among many. I wouldn't venture to say it was any particular cultivar just going by these two pictures.

The flowers on the one the previous owners left me smell like urine same as the dozen or so around my work.

They break apart well in the wind also and are listed as invasive in most states they grow in.

What is your planting location like? Consider crab apples or serviceberries as alternatives.

pros:
1. grow reasonably quickly
2. looks attractive when young (before it starts breaking apart)
3. usually cheap and easy to find (could be considered cons)

cons:
1. harmful to the ecosystem
2. produces numerous nasty, thorny seedlings in nearby fields and open areas
3. falls apart at an early age, making a mess out of your landscape and possibly damaging nearby personal property
4. smells very bad when in bloom
5. wastes an opportunity to grow a better choice

It is not GUARANTEED to fall apart. Although there are MANY MANY broken ones in my town there are also older ones that have retained their shape and have not lost branches.

Pros: Firewood - chop yours down NOW!

Here is a link that might be useful: Bradford Pear firewood

Oh they can get huge alright, if they're lucky enough to live to a decent age. One down the road in front of one farm, I soaked in each time I drove by it in bloom because it was one of the most impressive displays I'd ever seen. I enjoyed it for maybe ten or fifteen years each spring. Then one day.............it was laying horizontal and not because anyone cut it down. Good thing it was out in the country, because this one could have taken out a small house and it did miss the barn. I can understand why people plant them. I even did and came to my senses last fall when the utility crew were traveling the lines clearing limbs. I told them what it was and I didn't have to tell them anymore, they gladly took her down when I gave them permission to, knowing if they didn't they'd deal with her later. We are still round upping her seedlings, hundreds of them and our woodlot was already polluted with the some that invaded off somebody else's and nobody even really lives near us. As said, there are better choices.

The ecological invasiveness of this plant alone should preclude its choice in your or anyone else's landscape........in 2014. It's one thing to have admired them twenty years ago, before their true nature was known. To do so now is purely irresponsible. They are devastating ecosystems far and wide in the eastern US. Don't plant known invasive troublemakers, please.

+oM