FARMHOUSE STYLE DECOR USING FRESH FLOWERING PEAR BRANCHES FROM TREES IN OUR YARD. DONT THROW AWAY THOSE TREE TRIMMINGS, PUT THEM IN A DIRTY, RUSTY, GALVANIZED BUCKET OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THEM ON YOUR PORCH!
Wow I’ve been a ball of energy the past few days and I’m not sure why, maybe it’s the nice weather. Any who! I took advantage of my eagerness and got the yard in shape for the first time of the season. I mowed both properties, the cabin and the guest house, trimmed all the trees and shrubs that needed it, sprayed for weeds, planted my pumpkins, and hooked up the hoses.
After I’d trimmed the trees I thought the pear blossoms were beautiful and didn’t need to be composted yet so into an old sap bucket they went. My intentions were to bring them into the house but once I put my nose to the blossoms and inhaled I decided against it. Oh my I can’t even describe how sickening horrible they smelled, you know one of those smells that you just can’t believe so you take another whiff because you’re sure such pretty flowers couldn’t smell that horrible. I don’t mean just bad I mean turn your stomach make you want to puke bad.
My son and his girlfriend said something in the yard smelled like a dead animal, but I didn’t think much of it. We live in the country and it’s very possible there’s a dead animal in the field. I just couldn’t leave it alone and decided to google why my pear tree smelled so horrible and here’s what I learned. Bradford Pear trees smell like a mixture of rotting fish and semen, it’s been labeled the “semen tree” because of it’s smell. Well that explains it all, it’s a beautiful flowering tree in the spring and goes through several color changes in the fall making it quite stunning but wow that smell is bad.
So I went with plan “B”, of course right? I thought they’d look equally as nice keeping them outdoors on the farmhouse bench that hubby and I made last year from an old baby crib. I’m so glad I didn’t put these in my house, they whole place wouldn’t have absorbed that odor and who knows how long it would have taken to air the place out. It’s one of those smells that even after you shower you’re sure you can still smell it, like it’s still caught in your nasal passage somehow.
I’ll be back on Sunday to show you all the damage the deer and rabbits did to our landscaping over the winter and to share with you what I’m doing about it. 
Wow !, Dawn, I would have never believed that a fruit tree could smell so bad. That is crazy. Great idea putting them outside in the bucket. They sure look nice in the bucket and I like the contrast of the green and white. Very spring for sure !
And I thought strange things only happened to me with things at my house! They still look lovely on the porch!
I have smelled that odor before, but didn’t realize it was the pear trees! The smell is terrible! It’s a shame that something so pretty could smell so bad! Love the way you used the bucket to display on the bench. Looks great! I always look forward to your posts!
Aren’t these trees the ones that grow in a perfect shape? There’s a whole line along the street by the school. And they do smell weird but the LOOK so pretty.
Oh, I feel your pain × a million! When we moved here 20+ years ago, the city was giving out free shade trees to homeowners–3/home. So everyone in the area planted them. And the city did, too. They grew and now when they bloom…the whole city StINKS from them! It’s awful. They call them Chanticleer pears. If they aren’t the same as yours, they must surely be related!
They look lovely on your bench.