Banning Sale of Invasive Pear Trees

Bradford and related callery pear trees and three Elaeagnus species won’t be sold in South Carolina after October two thousand twenty four. It will still be perfectly legal to have these plants growing in your yard – the law only affects sales. The State Plant Pest List committee worked with stakeholders and set the ban on this timeline to limit the impact on nurseries or propagation businesses, allow time for the industry and inspectors to receive adequate training, and still try to curb further damage done to our environment by these highly invasive foreign plants. If you read about the dangerous thorns on callery pears and crowding out of beneficial plants by both pears and Elaeagnus, may’be you’ll decide to remove them from your landscape yourself. The pears have a weak branching structure and limbs often break off – maybe landing on your car!