A wild callery pear growing in a NC piedmont prairie.

Those thorns are brutal!

Callery Pear trees, AKA Bradford Pears, are staple trees of cookie-cutter suburban sprawl. They star in strip mall islands and suburban front yards, but birds spread the seeds into native plant habitat. (Actually, shouldn't strip mall islands and suburban lawns be stuffed with native plants that support native species?) Bradfords don't feed native insects. Their flowers stink. They crowd out native plants and trees. They are structurally weak and reliably split down the middle.

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The Deal...

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Dog Fennel Farm's mission is to spread plants and trees that sustain humans and wildlife, so the offer is simple, provide 3 things: before and after photos, and a tree cookie from the Bradford trunk  you cut down, and I'll give you two free bare-root tree seedlings. If you don't have a before photo, check out google street view images. Some people have asked, "what is a tree cookie?" - it's also called a "tree round", and it's a circular slice of the trunk, a "cookie" with bark on the outside. No cookie? No problem, I'll still give you a buy-one-get-one-free.

 

Here's the fine print, but big so you can read it.

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Local pickup only.

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Every effort will be given to letting the bounty recipient choose their trees, but inventory may dictate that Dog Fennel Farm reserve the right to choose which trees are awarded for the bounty.

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I've had a few inquiries about claiming a bounty on multiple trees. For the first tree, it's two free trees. After that I hope you'll be willing to support this mission financially.

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By submitting images to Dog Fennel Farm, LLC the bounty recipient grants permission to use images on this website, in social media, and in general to promote the eradication effort.

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Immediately after cutting you'll need to treat the freshly cut stump with an herbicide or a thick paste of salt and water or salt and vinegar. In either case just paint it on the cut, do not broadcast. It's best not to cut & treat the tree stump if rain is forecast in the next 3-4 days. You could also grind the stump, but I've heard that they can still send up shoots from the roots if you don't get them too. I'm not a big advocate of herbicides but I do feel they have a role to play in invasive species removal.