Lee County "Pear"-adise
By Elizabeth Dougherty
Fall and winter have been left behind as
spring is in bloom in Lee County.
The signs are everywhere.
Bumblebees, the size of small hummingbirds,
cruise and hover over fields of
clover. Patches of red, purple, pink and yellow
wildflowers erupt along I-85 like dabs of paint
on a barely green canvas.
Every morning you get ready to run
errands or go to work only to find that your
car has gotten another daily dusting of yellow
powdery pollen.
It is hard to tell who is busier, the
bumblebees or the car owners that seem to be
living at Goo Goo car wash as they try in vain
to keep their cars from looking as though they
have just been sprinkled with yellow talcum
powder.
But there is one sight that is so different
and startling that it lifts the spirits of
those who live here and shocks the hearts of
newcomers.
The beautiful Bradford Pear trees are in
bloom – everywhere.
Trees that just weeks ago looked like
skeletons reaching for the sky have erupted
into thousands of tiny white blossoms giving
an appearance of northern trees covered with
snowy white flakes that refuse to melt. Yard
after yard has one, two or three magnificently
large Bradford Pear trees that announce spring
like giant sticks of white cotton candy at the
County Fair.
If you want to drink in the beauty you
should hurry. The white blossoms only last a
few weeks, as the trees and the rest of us get
ready for the all too fast approaching summer
seasons.
You can tell the true natives who appreciate
these magnificent indigenous trees.
Overnight, their driveways are lined with 50-
foot tall puffs of white giving the most majestic
pathway to their house that you can imagine.
If you would like to see how it is done
right, just head toward the Saugahatchee
Country Club where their entrance is lined with
dozens of mature and majestic Bradford Pear
trees in full white regalia. Get out of your car.
Take in the quiet beauty of it all. It will take
your breath away and imprint an image in your
memory that you will keep forever.
The Bradford is a flowering pear tree
that grows to 50 feet tall and 30 feet wide.
The trees have no edible fruit, but rather
are planted as an ornamental used to line
driveways and punctuate yards with a blizzard
of white springtime beauty that erupts almost
overnight.
While the Bradford is used as an ornamental
tree throughout the U.S., here it is part
of the landscape.
Also, be sure to visit the trees in the fall.
The Bradford Pear tree is the perfect fall tree
becoming covered in a blaze of autumn colors
of red, yellow and orange. For now, the fleeting
beauty of the Bradford Pear is a sure sign that
spring has sprung.
Liz Dougherty has been a freelance food
writer and culinary consultant through
her company, Culinary Pursuits, Inc., for
the past six years. She trained under a
maniacal Swiss-German chef and later
received her Bachelor's degree, Magna
Cum Laude in Hospitality. Prior to that,
she was a licensed real estate broker and
mortgage broker with a total of over
ten years experience in real estate and
finance. She can be reached at
EADougherty1@aol.com
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