The Old Folks Home

[Bunnylady]

It is a Bradford pear tree.

It stinks when it blooms and has nasty little fruits that are supposed to be barren--but it keeps trying to grow little trees in the lawn!

I despise Bradford Pears. The show in the Spring is nice, I suppose, as is the red/purple color in the fall, but the shape is unnatural and the branching structure is a horrendous mess. In addition, they are grafted, and whatever the rootstock is, if it sends up shoots, they are ferociously spiny. Plus, the wood is ridiculously brittle. When they get about 30-40 feet tall, they start shedding great chunks; I have seen whole treetops on the ground after a summer thunderstorm. For the life of me, I can't understand their popularity!

 

[microchick]

I think people like the way they look when they bloom and as you said, Bunny, in the fall. There aren't too many around here. People seem to prefer the Flowering Dogwoods here as they are the state flower. Frankly I like the wild plums the best when they bloom in the spring. This past spring the whole woods smelled like blossoms.

What I hate are the black walnuts. When they fall and hide in the grass you hit them with your lawnmower. I am not a fan of that sound nor of the black ooze that splatters all over your legs when the the pieces hit you.

 

[ronott1]

They are all bad, IMHO, @ronott1. Actually the worst are the black legged deer ticks and the loan star tick which is starting to be found in Missouri. These that we are seeing here are nymphs. Young ticks just hatched. Once they feed on mice or deer they can transmit disease. Mice are usually their first meal.

Mice are a common disease vector it seems.

 

[ronott1]

I despise Bradford Pears. The show in the Spring is nice, I suppose, as is the red/purple color in the fall, but the shape is unnatural and the branching structure is a horrendous mess. In addition, they are grafted, and whatever the rootstock is, if it sends up shoots, they are ferociously spiny. Plus, the wood is ridiculously brittle. When they get about 30-40 feet tall, they start shedding great chunks; I have seen whole treetops on the ground after a summer thunderstorm. For the life of me, I can't understand their popularity!

I do not like that tree either!

 

[1muttsfan]

Mice are hosts to many tick-born diseases that the tick vectors can spread to us. Ugh. We never had ticks up here until around 15 years ago, now they are all over - so far just the Brown Dog Ticks though (people around here call them wood ticks), and not any Deer Ticks, which carry Lyme disease among others.

 

[bruceha2000]

Yeah, i just ordered a new coon trap!

Oh boy, squirrel AND coon BBQ!! Sure hope you catch that little son of a "female dog with attitude" Cap.

What I hate are the black walnuts. When they fall and hide in the grass you hit them with your lawnmower. I am not a fan of that sound nor of the black ooze that splatters all over your legs when the the pieces hit you.

But it makes GREAT furniture!

 

[ronott1]

Mice are hosts to many tick-born diseases that the tick vectors can spread to us. Ugh. We never had ticks up here until around 15 years ago, now they are all over - so far just the Brown Dog Ticks though (people around here call them wood ticks), and not any Deer Ticks, which carry Lyme disease among others.

There was an article about a Women that vacationed in south america and was stung by a mosquito. The mosquito had fed on a mouse that had a human bot fly egg or larvae in it and was transferred to the woman.

Mice again!

 

[Alaskan]

There was an article about a Women that vacationed in south america and was stung by a mosquito. The mosquito had fed on a mouse that had a human bot fly egg or larvae in it and was transferred to the woman.

Mice again!

I know a guy up here... picked up a bot fly larva while in the Caribbean maybe 20 years ago.

He has it in a jar on his mantelpiece.

 

[microchick]

I saw that story about the human bot fly. No thank you.

 

[CapricornFarm]

I despise Bradford Pears. The show in the Spring is nice, I suppose, as is the red/purple color in the fall, but the shape is unnatural and the branching structure is a horrendous mess. In addition, they are grafted, and whatever the rootstock is, if it sends up shoots, they are ferociously spiny. Plus, the wood is ridiculously brittle. When they get about 30-40 feet tall, they start shedding great chunks; I have seen whole treetops on the ground after a summer thunderstorm. For the life of me, I can't understand their popularity!

Yeah, when planting a pear tree i want to get pears from it!