Bradford Pear trees are probably the most commonly used landscape tree in my area, and their prevalence tends to dilute the fact that they really are nice trees. They have shiny foliage that they keep long into the fall. Their leaves stay green for a long time and slowly turn to a pretty reddish bronze. Well tended pear trees have a unique and distinct shape to them; they kind of remind me of spade from a deck of cards. And in good blooming seasons they are covered in tiny flowers that make them look like one plump white bud.
Typically this happens in the spring. Last week I was strolling around my office park and came upon a row of three or four pear trees in full bloom. In November. Very unusual. I asked around the office, and came across no one who seemed to have a good explanation for this, or who had ever seen something like this before.
When all other resources fail me on questions like this, I turn to Ron Wilson. He's the "Personal Yardboy" for a lot of Cincinnatians like myself, and he's a great guy taboot. He knew what I was talking about right off the bat, and the folks at Natorp's have been flagging trees that are behaving this way so they can check back with them in the spring. The best explanation he provided was that the drought this year led to an early leaf drop for a lot of trees, but the continued warm weather has the trees confused. Apparently it's only happening on trees that have lost their leaves already, and he mentioned that stressed trees may flower as a defense - they're trying to reproduce, is the line. Ron wasn't totally convinced of this explanation though, and basically smiled, shrugged, and said, "That's nature for you."
It's kind of a bummer that these trees won't be blooming in spring, but sometimes different is good. I've never seen anything like this in the fall, so I think it's cool. If nature was predictable, the pleasure of working in the outdoors would probably get boring in a hurry.