Tree ID?

[siderea]

Anyone happen to know what sort of trees the white flowering ones lining both sides of the bike path through Seven Hills Park (behind Davis Sq. T, theater-side) are?

Comments

[artemii.livejournal.com]

flowering cherries/ornamental cherries are more often pink flowering than white, though.

i agree with lesliet_ma that they're likely bradford pears.

Pears vs cherries

[lesliet-ma.livejournal.com]

Cherries can be pink or white; Bradford pears are always white.

Here are a few distinguishing features.

First, take a look at the over-all shape. (Look at the picture of the Bradford pear on the first link I posted.)The Bradford pear tree usually has a lot of straight branches shooting out from the trunk and gives an overall impression of being stiff and vertical.

Then take a look at the bark. The bark of a cherry tree tends to be smooth and glossy, with short little horizontal marks called lenticels. If you see prominent lenticels, it's almost certainly a cherry. (Although if you don't see them, it's not proof that it's not.)

Re: Pears vs cherries

[artemii.livejournal.com]

yep, i know cherries can be pink or what. what i meant was that the ones planted by cities are usually pink.

Re: Pears vs cherries

[artemii.livejournal.com]

oops, that should be pink or WHITE. :)

[ah42.livejournal.com]

I am of the opinion that many "white" flowers (tree, perennial, etc) aren't actually white, just varying paleness of pink, some to the degree that you can't tell. If you notice the buds before they fully swell and open, often times, the colour is richer at that point.

One of the problems with Bradfords, from a landscaping P.O.V. is that they drop their leaves so much later than everything else. I just did the fall cleanup on some Bradfords last week, because they finally dropped them in the snow back in January. We're actually going to be replacing those (and they're not 10 years old) soon, although I do not know with what.

They also have a tendancy to get split by ice and wind, and don't have a long lifespan. (Although city trees in general don't live long, anyway)

Hmm... if those were put in when Davis T opened... then they'd be around 20 years old now, and rapidly on the decline in the coming years. Japanese flowering cherries would be a possible replacement tree.

[siderea]

I was just reading up on the Bradfords: apparently they're considered an invader and they're strongly discourged. A pity, because they're gorgeous and hardy, but, as you say, they're fragile trees and, now having been around 20 years, are beginning to split during the winter.

I like the cherry idea, but are there any cultivars w/o fruit? The fruit makes a mess which is downright dangerous with how slippery it can become, which disrecommends fruit trees for over the bike path.

[artemii.livejournal.com]

the "ornamental cherries" we've been talking about (also referred to as "flowering cherries" or "japanese flowering cherries", though all cherry trees flower) are fruitless. that's why the city also plants a fair number of them.