It seems that almost in the blink of an eye, the flowers on our
pear trees have turned a brilliant white one more time. Of
course, they too can be fooled by the weather and our fickle
pre-spring warm spells. But we can take some comfort now knowing
that spring is not far away. These ubiquitous trees are indeed
one of the first signs of the return of life, right along with
the yellow blooms of the forsythia. In my mind, the appearance
of the long white ranks of flowering pear trees and the gaggles
of bicycles on the streets go together as a primary hallmark of
the welcome return of life in Memphis. But like beauty anywhere,
there are even in arborial matters a few flaws to be found if
one looks hard enough. For the sparkling Bradford pear, the
endemic flaw is twofold. First is its unusually high propensity
for physical self-destruction due to its dense canopy that
collects so much wind force and rainwater weight above those
tightly angled and poorly formed limb forks. When Bradfords get
to a certain size, many