THE MAGNIFICENT AMERICAN ELM TREES

[berwynson]

The view of the bungalows was once universally enhanced by huge American Elms. They met overhead in many places, as though embracing high over the middle of the street, providing nice shade on hot summer days. A scourge of Dutch Elm Disease over quite a few decades was decimating these wonderful trees, and around 1970 I recall the City crews cutting down large numbers of them. Indeed, I asked them if it was acceptable to take what logs I could for out fireplace; permission was kindly granted.

I called the Forest Preserve Dep't., I think, and was told by a knowledgeable man that it was thought no American Elm would be left on the North American continent by 2000. Later, I heard that some were saved somewhere; would that have been in Berwyn?

(I thought this "fit" better under "bungalows" than reminiscing). Berwynson

[treeguy]

I am a North American Elm enthusiast.  I haven't traveled all of Berwyn, but I have not yet found another Ulmus Americana in Berwyn, besides the one I planted in my backyard one month after I bought my house.  I have found some gorgeous vintage elms in the area though.  Brookfield Zoo has 4-5 older elms.  Also, Oak Park and River Forest still have some massive specimens that have either survived or avoided Dutch Elm disease.  The hope for North American elms is that several DED-resistant lines have been developed without hybridization.  The most notable is the Liberty Elm  (www.libertyelm.com).  This is the tree I planted in my backyard.  Over 250,000 liberty elms have been planted since 1983, and less than 100 have succumbed to DED.  The tree is not immune to the disease, but it is resistant, and can survive.  There are several other lines that also claim to be resistant. Hopefully, one of the most beautiful American street trees hasn't been lost.  Maybe over the next 100 years, we can re-elm Berwyn.

One tree we have many massive beautiful specimens of is the Ash tree.  I can only hope that the Ash Borer doesn't take them away from us.  I am not optimistic about it though - I do not believe our governments, local, state, or federal, have or will respond to this threat.  So go hug your Ash today, there is a pretty good chance you'll be replacing it someday soon.

[berwynson]

Treeguy, thank you for the info on elms! I'm pleased to learn some American Elms survived, and I had heard of other elms which were resistant to DED, but 35 years is a long time to be away from the scene! If memory serves me, (and lately it's 50-50), the Chinese Elm was being touted as resistant, but examples I saw were less spectacular trees than the American variety.

As a child growing up on Harvey, we had a Mountain Ash my Folks had planted in front of the house before I was old enough to remember such things. It always had loads of small, bright, reddish-orange berries, and we often debated the advisability of making some foodstuff out of them. The Czechs seem to often seek natural edibles, from my experience, always talking about "houby-hunting".

One of the "cures" I recall hearing about for DED back in the late 60's involved the use of zinc, the process being the driving of many galvanized roofing nails into the tree circumferentially. We actually saw some thus treated, but I suspect the scheme was not too effective. Berwynson

[treeguy]

I haven't heard of the zinc nail treatment before.  There is a fungicide that can be injected into the tree at the base which has proven effective at controlling DED.  The treatment must also be accompanied by cutting off any infected limbs.  It is an expensive and labor-intensive treatment that is reserved for special trees.