Unlike many who will be reading I can remember Elm being a significant feature of the landscape both rural and urban. One of my first tree climbing experiences was in the early seventies felling a large Elm in the centre of Clacton on Sea, Essex, working from a three tiered ladder with a bow saw, as the ravages of Dutch Elm disease took its toll.

Recently I have moved to East Sussex and the National Elm collection in Brighton is easily accessible, although not as fully utilised by me as perhaps it should have been in the time I have been down there. It has, however, certainly reminded me of just how significant Elm has been and is in both urban and rural settings.

During May I was fortunate enough to travel across to the USA with a colleague Peter Wells to visit Bartlett’s research laboratories in North Carolina, The JC Ralston Arboretum also in North Carolina, The National Arboretum in Washington and then onto the Morton Arboretum near Chicago. At all of the sites Elm featured significantly and there was much discussion of the relative merits of recent and not so recent introductions. Again another reminder of the significance of Elm While not pretending to be an expert in any way shape or form I thought it might be useful review the Elms actually in UK and USA nurseries.

There have been three European introductions since the early seventies. Ulmus Dodoens’ is a very fast growing tree which was released in 1973 in Holland. It was derived from a selfed seedling of the Ulmus glabra Exionensis ( The Exeter Elm) and Ulmus wallichiana. Ulmus Lobel is a Dutch hybrid cultivar raised in Wageningen. It was cloned in 1962 and released for sale in 1973. It is a large and fast growing narrow columnar tree which is notably late to flush with its leaves rarely developed before mid May. It has proven resistant to sea winds.

Ulmus Clusius was released in 1983 and is derived from the same Dutch clones which produced Ulmus lobel. It has larger leaves and a broader crown. All three of the Dutch introductions above have proved marginally resistant to Dutch Elm disease and can offer a significant landscape contribution but perhaps significantly none are produced commercially in the USA where they never displayed the environmental tolerance of the American Elm.   All are readily available from UK nurseries.

Ulmus New Horizon is described in the Hilliers Manual of Trees and Shrubs as ‘a vigorous large tree of upright habit with a straight central leader and a dense conical crown’. It is a complex cross between two Asian Elms, Ulmus pumila and Ulmus japonica many of which exhibit tolerance to DED. Despite being developed at the University of Wisconsin, where the original tree stands, like the Dutch selections above it is not, to my knowledge , widely produced commercially either in the USA or UK. This is also, perhaps, significant.

There is, as Pete Wells and I discovered, a tremendous interest in the USA, where DED decimated populations every bit as severely as in the UK, in reintroducing the Elm. Much work has been carried out in the breeding and evaluation of Elm cultivars. There has been a great deal of interest in Ulmus parviflora ( The Chinese Elm).

 Two cultivars are of particular interest displaying hardiness with good ornamental bark. These are ‘Allee’ and ‘Athena’. ‘Allee’ is an upright vase shaped form reaching a height of 50 ft while ‘Athena’ grows up to 30ft and is broadly rounded in form. Perhaps the best looking of the Asian cultivars is one drawn from Ulmus wilsoniana and Ulmus japonica parentage called ‘ Accolade’. This is a vase shaped tree with arching limbs reaching a height of 60ft. None of these Asian cultivars are available in the UK.

Ulmus ‘Morton Glossy’ (Triumph Elm) is a complex hybrid between three Asian Elms and has similar characteristics to the Accolade Elm mentioned above. Pete and I saw examples of both at the Bartlett Tree Laboratories in North Carlolina. There has also been a resurgence of interest in the American Elm. The National Arboretum has released Ulmus americana Valley Forge and Ulmus americana New Harmony both of which have exhibited outstanding levels of resistance to DED. Neither are currently available in the UK.

The National Park has also found two apparent American Elm hybrids of unknown origin. These have been named ‘Jefferson’ and ‘Washington’. Both have triploid chromosome levels. Both are difficult to propagate and are not generally available. As the above were being trialled a much older cultivar, selected in 1920, was also trialled at the National Arboretum in the early 1990s and early 2000s exhibiting a consistently high level of resistance to DED. This was Ulmus americana Princeton. The Princeton Elm has been widely publicised, especially with Prince Charles planting an avenue at Highgrove. It has been identified as having superior ornamental attributes including large leathery foliage, an upright habit in youth, becoming a uniform vase shape in later life. In addition it is extremely tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions including salt, wind, wet, dry and compacted soils and urban pollution.

At Barcham we have secured the UK rights to this cultivar and are currently bulking up stock with over 1500 trees currently within the production system.

Ulmus glabra Camperdownii is a form of Wych Elm. The original appeared at Camperdown House near Dundee in 1850. It is a small weeping tree with a dome shaped head and looks good growing in a lawn in parks. It remains neat and compact and is generally considered to be resistant to DED.

Ulmus carpinifolia Wredii Aurea is a slow growing Elm. Oval in habit it tolerates air pollution and salt laden air. It has luminescent yellow foliage which is particularly effective in semi- shade.

Both of the above are readily available.