Bradford pears (worthless but pretty trash trees) are blooming in my area. How good are they as a source of nectar/pollen for bees? All I know is they clog the skimmer of my pool and the limbs break easily.
Worthless to the bees. They get less than the energy it takes to collect it
Just trash trees. Builders plant them because they are cheap, grow fast, have pretty blooms, but take up space a good tree could tree could occupy. The only good thing about them is that their branch structure is weak, so limbs split down the trunk and they die early. I had hoped they could at least feed some bees. Thanks, Wally.
Odd I would have assumed they would have been decent as I do believe regular pear trees are
I think it's a callery pear from china. Year's ago a friend (landscaper) showed me how they were grafted to native pear root balls , so the tree could grow ( showed me graf lines)
The wife's family has a large plot of land. We walked it this week. it has a large number of wild bradford pears. (They say they are infertile. Not so much.) It also has a number of wild plums. We noticed consistently there would be a 4 ft tall plum tree that is covered with bees right next to a 30 ft tall bradford pear with not a bee on it.
Hm, this is strange to me. At my old house I had a big flowering tree that I thought was a Bradford pear, and it was always covered in bees. Maybe it was a different variety or something.
#15,
Bees pick the flowers with the best nectar and pollen.
If the pear is the only source available they will use it.
Jim