The pictures that won 1st place

 
 

She won again

CeAnna entered a 4-H photography contest a while back. (They do 4-H in the school twice a month) Anyway she took first place in the school and got to go onto county. Well today she won 1st place again this time with a $25.00 prize. Now she gets to go onto regional that will be the end of May.

Tis the season, Spring is here and the Bradford Pear trees are the first to bloom, Their flowers come on before their leaves, and are very beautiful. They line the driveways, border roads, and frame front yards. How ever NOT IN MY FRONT YARD. Why you might ask, well here is one of the reasons, quoted by several other people.

Abundant large white, early spring. The blossoms smell like rotten fish. Some years this is worse than other years. Some years it's so bad we can't open the windows or go outside!

Celebrating the petal fall!
(We celebrate because pear blossoms
smell yucky!)

In spring they were abloom with pretty white flowers like those of a real pear tree, though their scent is nothing like real fruit blossoms at all.

Okay, this may seem like a strange question, but do Bradford Pear trees smell bad when they are flowering? Hub and I were outside the other night and noticed a strange odor -- he thought it was garbage in our neighbor's yard. But I smelled it again in the parking lot at Lowe's (where they have some small pear trees), and then when I got home and was walking my yard - phew! The only thing I see in common is the Bradford Pears (we have 3 huge ones in our back yard that are all abloom).

I used to have a Bradford pear which had a very, very unpleasant aroma reminiscent of a boatload of dead mackerel.

Shortly after moving to that house, that tree burst into bloom in all of its pungent odiferousness; I was walking through the yard one evening and the smell hit me like a punch and sent me reeling. Once I regained my footing, I investigated, and was intrigued and revolted at the same time--the tree was being pollinated almost completely by flies!

My opinion, It smells like a mix of something dead and a skunk, with out the sharpness. Just really nasty and negative. And after a wet winter, the smell is even worse! I was gaging as I went to my car after a stop at a shop where they border the parking lot.