As a practicing Massachusetts Certified Arborist, I had known of American Elms and their curse which kills. The fungus which penetrates their vascular system through an insect vector and the elm bark beetles. I also knew the control methods available which may or may not ward off infection.
At the front of our home in
Massachusetts is a multi-trunk mature Elm, my estimation 50 years old. I had created a shade garden 5 years ago
below it. Nobody enjoyed mowing under the tree as part of a hill so I just
landscaped with a number of shade plants, many hosta, bleeding heart, lily of
the valley and Solomon seal. But now their home
and shade was coming unraveled.
Mid-summer 2014 I had seen the signs of “flagging” in a small portion of canopy toward
the street. This part of the canopy looked as if the moisture had been cut off
to it’s leaves, off color, dis-similar to the rest of the tree. I had the infected portion removed with
sizable cuts to the affected branches. Again a month later, more flagging in a
different point in the canopy, again, containment in hopes of catching the
fungus…. I was taught that if more than 10% of
the tree was affected, it would be a guaranteed death. I
believed we would become another statistic.
May 2015-left, flagging branches at left side
June 2015-right,
dead leaves and thinning overall canopy- so quickly!
Now this spring, the signs were back and earlier in the year for our Elm. The picture above right, now a month later, finds browning leaves while all other deciduous trees are still filling in, nearly all the tree appears infected, leaf debris on the ground and a canopy thinning out.
This will be its year of departure. Most people do not look closely at trees, no one would ever see our tree as it dies, know of its demise where it had previously been a gorgeous, soaring vase shaped signature of a tree, now on a one way journey back to earth. Certainly the shade plants will know as the area transitions to a sun garden, all to happen this year.
Appreciate your trees,
they are fragile, all have enemies, active, silent, deadly- pollution, salt,
insects, diseases, construction, weather.
They are all at risk as ours was.
Meet the 'Plant Whisperer' 'Jim Harshbarger; Massachusetts Certified Arborist'
Learn more about THE GARDEN TUTOR
ELM Facts courtesy of ElmCare.com
- The 7,700,000 elm trees in urban centres in North America have a combined value of over US$19 billion
- Dutch elm disease got its name because it was discovered by scientists in Holland in 1917.
- The seven Dutch scientists who first identified Dutch elm disease were all women.
- Dutch elm disease hit England in the 1960’s and within 20 years had killed 17 million of the country’s 23 million elm trees.
- A second out-break of Dutch elm disease in 1945, destroyed second-generation elms in Eastern Canada and the United States. The elm population dropped from 77 million to 34 million by 1976.
- Fully mature elm trees can live as long as 300 years.
- The cooling effect of one urban elm tree is equivalent to five air conditioning units.
- North American settlers named the elm “the lady of the forest”.
- Elm trees first appeared in the Miocene period, about 40 million years ago.
- The American Elm grows to over 115 feet tall and can have a diameter in excess of ten feet.
- The Iroquois used elm bark to make canoes, rope and utensils
- Oh and by the way... The film “Nightmare on Elm Street” has absolutely nothing to do with elm trees
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