Each branch is loaded with white blossoms that make me think of snow and lace and romance.
I am enchanted with the play of light on the blossoms, the blur of bees surrounding the tree, the bright green winter grass flecked with white fallen petals as if strewn by the hand of a whimsical flower girl.
My beguilement lasts until I walk out the front door. I know from past experience that this vision of loveliness is going to smell like a boatload of decaying mackerel, but somehow the charm of the vision gives me olfactory amnesia.
This morning I decided I would write a poignant blog with all kinds of wonderful lessons learned about beautiful things that smell ugly...and how beauty is only nostril deep.
But since I write my blog in my office, the tree is beckoning from the front yard in an enthralling fashion telling me, "I am so beautiful...you were mistaken...I smell like apple blossoms falling into a blooming patch of hyacinth"...
And there remains nothing left for me to do here except make Mr. Jenny go out and take a big whiff of that lovely tree just to be sure I wasn't mistaken. And until I have him check, I think I just better not try to share any lessons learned today.
Sigh...
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33 comments:
Gosh I had no idea they were smelly. Sure is beautiful...
really? they stink? thats too bad, because it really is so pretty! tricky little tree! geez!
happy wednesday!
xo
viv
We have a pear tree too it stands alone amongst some pines and a few other apple trees....We are still knee deep in Winter so this photo sure makes me happy I take in a visual whiff and think YIPPEE SPRING!
Ah yes, Minnesota has what's called spirea which looks much like your lovely tree...but oh does it ever stink! Funny how such things of beauty can contain not so nice aspects as well!
Crazy to see those blossoms no matter how they may smell...we too are knee deep (literally) in winter and there are no blossoms happening around here. THough yesterday, I, the winter loving girl, found myself basking in the glory of 70 degree sunlight. And enjoying it. That is the beauty of colorado and it smelled good.
Really?! You have a blossoming tree?! I'm living in the wrong place, for sure. I wish I could see a flower, stink or no stink.
Oh Jenny! I LOVE bradford pear trees! They are so abundant where I live and I think of them as our Midwesternn version of the South's white dogwood trees! It's funny, but I've never smelled a bad aroma coming from them! Must be my sinuses! BUT, the most amazing thing about your blog post is: YOU'VE GOT BLOOMING PEAR TREES IN THE MIDDLE OF FEBRUARY!!! LUCKY!!
Bradford pears are beautiful but not my favorite tree. We parked under one for a long time and I can tell you those blossoms stick like glue to your vehicle. They do have an odor to me and was right outside the kitchen window so I wasn't able to open it til all the white was gone. Then it is just a green tree and grows super tall. Told you they weren't my favorite...lol...
I love to look at those beautiful blooms BUT THEY STINK to high Heaven:) We have them at the ballfield where my Grandson plays ball and you almost need a nose clip to sit there!
Have a blessed day my friend! HUGS!
I had no idea that they stunk! They are so beautiful and I've always admired them. But I think I'll stick to my jasmine, it smells wonderful! I think it's hysterical that you sent Mr. Jenny out to do a smell check. What a guy! Kat
I loved 'olfactory amnesia' LOL
Mr. Jenny is such a great guy!
Hey Girlfriend,
They had a bunch of those out front of the Motorola plant, in Chandler, when I worked there. It was bad enough working the 12 hour shifts, but to have to smell those things going in and coming out.......whew. It is a shame they are so pretty and smell so bad. Have a great day sweetie.
Love ya'
Meri
Oh wow. That is beautiful. I think the beauty might just make up for the smell. Really. And from your office you don't have to smell, so burn a candle or hang a few car fresheners and imagine it smells as divine as it looks.
P.S. Why can something so beautiful reek so horribly? It just doesn't make sense!
Wow! I didn't know that any gorgeous flowering fruit trees, didn't smell like ambrosia. Wow! -pout-
We used to have a Plum tree, near back of our patio, and it was heavenly, when in bloom.
And I grew up with an Apple tree in the side yard...
Guess I'm glad I never ran into your flowering Bradford Pear tree.
So anyway, what's the deep meaning, which you got from all of this? This thing about how some beautiful things, stink. Oh that's right. You have to wait till tomorrow. ,-)
"Olden Auntie A."
Ahh bummer...if only the smell equaled the beauty. :) Your visual description of the tree is perfectly beautiful! I could have closed my eyes and visualized the tree by your words, even without a photo.
haha!!! Hm....I dont recall that smell from these beautiful trees! Our friends had bradford pear trees lining their street at their Tennessee home... but that was about 8 years ago, since they've lived there and we had visited there...so maybe time has taken that aromatic wisps from my memory banks.
(or maybe Becky and our friends had some "special-stink-free Bradford pears trees"!)
Oh dear! still cracking up at the thought of you sending poor Mr. Jenny out to confirm your suspicions! You are too much!!!!
Blessings & Aloha!
(I have had my regular Weds off these past several weeks -prior to that, I had been filling in or had appointments, etc... so it has been awesome that I actually am getting my Alphab-Thursday posts put together sooner than I used to!)
Olfactory amnesia? I never forget something that stinks, even if it is beautiful. Like Wisteria,that Bradford Pear tree is beautiful if appreciated from afar.
Poor Mr. Guinea Pig..uh I mean Mr. Jenny. LOL! ~Ames
I can't imagine anything that gorgeous stinking. So, did he come back in yet? :)
Bradford Pears must be the tree version of cilantro. You know how some people love, love, love the taste of cilantro yet to others it tastes like soap? Well, I live in an area where Bradford pears are quite abundant. One of my super powers is my powerful sense of smell. I have never smelled stink from these trees. Although it could be maybe that you just have a more powerful sniffer than I!
Poor Mr Jenny - the things he does for you. Who needs Valentines when you have a husband who will risk his nose?
No blossoms here - it snowed overnight - what an insult this late in the year!
I had forgotten that stink! I feel that way about privet when the blossoms start to fade. That smell gets in your sinus cavity and won't go away.
I think most everything in my yard is dead from the hard freeze.
Jenny they are beautiful but best viewed from far away or a lovely window! Funny lady! hugs, Linda
I think Bradford Pear trees are gorgeous when they are in bloom. I have never smelled them though...maybe I don't want to now that I hear they do not smell so good. Hugs
Hard to believe that such beautiful blossoms don't smell good. That is a perfect example of nature's dissonance, isn't it?
Sometimes even nature gets it wrong!
;)
Beauty can be deceiving. Bradford pear is an invasive species that is crowding out native plants and ruining habitats in the southeast. They spread like crazy and once in an environment they take over. I cringe every year in the spring when I see how they have multiplied in hedgerows, along the edges of fields, in ditches, etc. Some places have passed laws prohibiting them being planted now.
It really is pretty to be so smelly. I would take a smelly blooming tree right now though because we are still looking at snow and bare limbs. Enjoy!
These are my favorite trees and I didn't know that they stunk!!
xoxo
Love God's sense of humor, don't you???? That tree is magnificent!!! Using one of our senses is enough with something this swesome!!!!! I Hhad BNO idea there were trees like this here in AZ!!!!! WOW! Thank you for sharing these photos!!!!! Sandy
A great post and great photos!
Thanks to words about the smells, my nose is smiling from ear to ear!
aah, Spring! How glorious! I think that today is the first day that there is not even one small patch of snow on the ground somewhere. I'd take that stink right now. (I have a pear tree, too. When it blooms---sometime in the seemingly far distant future, I will have to go give it a sniff.)
Just beautiful....oh to see such beauty out my window...everything is so bleak from the winter!!!!
ENJOY sweet friend....thanks for sharing this beauty with us today!!!
I wasn't aware that Bradford Pear trees smelled bad, but I adore any tree that flowers. I know that our lilacs become rather stinky when the blooms start to die off.
We planted a Choke Cherry tree in our front yard last spring. I can't wait until the weather warms up and the flowers appear! I hope they don't stink!
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