Homeowner seeks help after sharing dramatic before-and-after photos of neighbor's yard: 'Will they survive?'

Sharing the beauty and function of your neighborhood's nature is one of the best community perks. One neighbor's trees might provide you with extra sound barriers and shade, while another neighbor's garden brings pollinators to your block.

One Reddit user walked outside their home one day and noticed that the shade they had enjoyed from their neighbor's trees was gone, as the trees had been topped. The original poster asked the Reddit community on the r/arborists subreddit whether they would grow back.

"Neighbor just had his Bradford Pears topped. Will they survive? I'm curious to know so that I can make landscaping plans. Our yard has a lot less shade now, but will it stay that way, or will they just grow back?" the OP asked.

The attached pictures show a before and after. The yard was almost fully shaded before the chop, and was almost entirely in the sun after the chop.

The Bradford pear, or Callery pear, was first imported from Eastern Asia in 1908, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The tree was introduced and refined to develop a pear tree that was more resistant to a persistent bacterium called fire blight, and Bradford pears were later sold as decorative landscaping trees.

These trees are a common annoyance for homeowners because they produce a lot of fruit, have a strong odor, form dense, thorny thickets, and are easily damaged by storms. They can also collapse under their own weight after 15 to 20 years.

What would benefit both homeowners is investing in a native plant yard. They require less routine maintenance, use less water, and reduce wildfire risk to their home, as invasive species burn hotter than native species.

By rewilding their yard, they will bring pollinators into their neighborhood, helping to restore the balance of many species that have experienced significant declines — such as the bumblebee and the butterfly — and protecting our food supply. Native options for their yards can include clover, buffalo grass, and xeriscaping.

Other Redditors shared their disgust for this invasive species and informed the OP that the shade will likely return.

"Garbage trees that should be eradicated and replaced with natives at every opportunity," one commenter wrote.

"You would have a hard time killing a Bradford pear. You can cut them off at the ground, and they will just resprout off the stump. They will have terrible branch structure, but they will live," another shared.

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