I planted accolade, green king, and princeton elm last year, 2004 STick tree in pic is 'green king' hybrid elm. Supposedly redXsiberian cross. Haven't found much info about it. It is a little over 15 feet tall. It was planted as a 4 feet tall in april, 2004. Hasn't grown as much this year, some of the cause might be that half its trunk was stripped of its bark by a goat. I planted this princeton elm in august, 2004 as a 2 footer. All growth above 2 feet has occurred this year, 2005. height: 8.5 ft. Haven't taken a pic of accolade elm yet. It was planted in april, 2004, but its height growth isn't as impressive. It tends to have corky twigs. I plan to buy some more, such as valley forge, new harmony, and some asian hybrids.

Where in PA do you have alkaline soil? From what THIS map says, all of PA is at least slightly acid at least by default (not including disturbed soils I'm sure): I'm in central Ohio (Delaware County, north of Columbus) right at the line between light blue and dark blue, and my pH is between 6.9 and 7.3 (which is relatively low for my area it turns out) depending on who does the test and where I take it on my property - the front yard is higher than the backyard...so, for me, the map is spot-on Here is a link that might be useful:

Thought some of you might enjoy reading this! Rare chestnut tree still survives in Ohio State official let it slip that one mature tree stands in Ohio; its exact location is protected. Staff and Wire Reports Tuesday, March 25, 2008 SANDUSKY For about seven years, the state's natural resources leaders have harbored a secret. They still won't reveal the exact location of it or allow outsiders to see it. This Ohio treasure's existence was closely guarded until last week when the director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources revealed that a full-size American Chestnut tree still stands in a marsh near Lake Erie, the Sandusky Register reported recently. For tree experts, it's a big deal. American chestnuts that grew up to 120 feet once accounted for about 25 percent of the forests in the eastern half of North America until a fungus wiped out all but a few. 'They are often referred to as the redwood of the East because of their tremendous size,' Gary Obermiller, a regional manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves. The fungus was first detected in 1904 in trees in New York City, and by 1950 some 3.5 billion trees about 90 percent of the species were dead. Only a few trees had resistance to the fungus and survived. In Ohio, most American chestnut trees were found in the eastern half of the state. In August, the Dayton Daily News reported on the existence of a stand of American chestnuts anchored in a working sandstone quarry in Braceville Twp., Trumbull County, just west of Warren near the Mahoning River. The specimens that sit on a standstone knob are a handful, the tallest reaching 75 feet. According to the Register, the state's largest existing chestnut tree known only to a few until last week is in Sheldon Marsh, a 465-acre state nature preserve about midway between Toledo and Cleveland. The tree stands 89 feet tall and has a 5-foot circumference. 'To our knowledge, we don't have any that come close to this size,' Obermiller said. Most surviving chestnut trees are small, sprouting from the roots of trees killed by the fungus. Steve Maurer, the new chief of Natural Areas and Preserves, decided the public should be told about the tree, Obermiller said. 'He realized this was a very special tree,' Obermiller said. American Chestnut facts American chestnut trees once made up about 25 percent of forests in eastern North America. The trees grew up to 120 feet tall and lived up to 600 years. Its wood was valuable because it was straight, light and rot-resistant. A fungus that eventually wiped out most of the trees was first found in 1904 in New York. All American Chestnut trees in New York City were dead by 1912. By 1950 about 3.5 billion trees about 90 percent of the species were dead

I can't answer that question quercus as I never thought about it or paid any attention to different growth rates of the oaks. #4 is the only tree I paid attention to, because it was such a pretty thing. It did grow pretty fast in the past few years. That could be because we had the pines removed, which afforded a lot more sunlight for the remaining trees. Oh, by the way, the bark on #4 is a little shaggy, on a small scale. More like eyelash fringe -- nothing like shagbark hickories, though. We had what I think was a gigantic, very old white oak on the other side of the house, about 100 feet or more away. It was very old - around 200-300 years old. I stopped counting rings at 260. It had a huge trunk and an enormous canopy. I never saw any acorns beneath it. The leaves were very big, and it provided lots of shade in the summer and lots of dead leaves in the fall. In our area, oaks are subject to getting holes in the bottom of the trunk, and this one had a big one. We even had a family of Indian Runner snakes living in the hole for a while, until we ran them out with mothballs. Sadly, though, with Hurricane Rita, we lost our beloved tree. The bottom of the trunk and the hole are still there. I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of it. We may have to hire someone with a stump grinder to grind it down. It's really the hole I want to eliminate. Ever since I saw those black periscope-like heads of the snakes coming up out of it, I always think about them when I pass that stump.