I would love to see more American Elms planted. I guess I don't know much about it though. I do like the shape of the Princeton but I haven't seen the other cultivars. Do they all have yellow fall foliage do you know? I see Home Depot is going to be offering them in the spring 2008. It will be interesting to see how many people want them.

pm2

Well, I started this thread, so I had better pursue it despite the anemic responses so far. By the way, I am new to this series of forums and while am not a gardener, I do love trees. I should have been specific and asked what does anyone think is the state of elm restoration in New England? Given the book by Thomas Campanella ("Republic of Shade"), I'm surprised elm planting hasn't accelerated. Do many landscape professionals specify them?

I guess one of the reason one still be hard pressed to see them planted in people's yards is that given an extremely limited amount of planting real estate the tree would severely conflict with other landscaping, although if the tree is trained/pruned properly, great understory plantings are possible.

All gardeners/landscapers, please weigh in.

princetonfan...I guess elm restoration isn't on a lot of people's minds right now. [g] Since you are new to the forums though, I should point out to you that this time of year is not the best time to ask this type of question. People are working outdoors trying to get their gardens ready for winter and not as much posting going on until it is all done and they are spending more time indoors.

It is a great question to ask over the winter, after the holidays. That is normally the time people are busy thinking about what they are going to do the next year and what they are going to buy and doing research on a lot of plant material. So if you don't get more of a response, come back then.

Can you explain though, what you said about '...the tree severely conflicting with other landscaping.'

I do have a small piece of property and there are already lots of mature trees in neighboring yards. I have one tree that I would love to be free of and replace it with something I like better but it is very costly to take down a tree, especially when I will have to wait a long time for a new tree to get as large as the one I want to take out.

Thanks
pm2

My property is too small to take a large tree. I specifically had to limit my selection of a replacement tree to under 30 feet. As I think about my town, Weymouth,Mass., I think about how few streets there are that could have trees planted along them. It is sort of sad that over time many properties with extra lots get subdivided with a diminishing number of large yards as the result.

There are a couple of issues in this thread. I'll take the second one first.

Before air conditioning, people planted shade trees for their cooling effect. This doesn't really work unless you are in the shade of the tree, which when the sun is highest in the sky means you are under the thing. So old neighborhoods still can have big trees planted close to houses. The ones that don't have lost their trees since you can't mess around with structural problems on trees that close. However, when I was a kid most of the houses I was familiar with had trees within 15 ft of the house. My grandmother's house had a maple about 2 ft away from the porch. At that point, almost all of the tree is over the house in the air, so the only space considerations are how big the trunk is. So an enormously massive tree takes up maybe 9 sq ft on the ground. So yes, most people really do have space for these things.

However, planting a large tree is a major investment. Not in money, but in time. And when you don't have the space, relatively minor health issues can quickly become major problems. Nobody wants to spend 30 or 40 years waiting for a tree to grow, then have to spend the money to take it down because it's sick. So there is going to be an awful lot of conservatism regarding what species of trees get planted.

BTW, a local park has planted about a dozen blight resistant American chestnuts in an area where they will be an asset if they do well, but won't be difficult to remove is that becomes necessary. The thing that has always puzzled me, though, is that they are planted on about 20 ft centers.

Interesting. For me the issue is that I zealously guard my sunny spaces because I want them for gardening. I spent my first years gardening in just degrees of shade, nothing close to full sun anywhere. Having a quarter acre lot means, any tree I plant will affect how I can garden. I am only willing to plant a small tree to replace a small tree. But this raises the issue of why people who not not gardens don't plant more trees.

As I was walking across the grassy area at Mass. General Hospital today, I was looking to see if the Hospital had room to plant an elm. Not a question I would have been considering without the original post. A sequoia was recently planted on the site, much to my surprise.

Thank you, pm2; not being a gardender I guess was not attuned to their priorities in any given season. Thank you, by the way, for pointing out my completely incomprehsible formulation about large shade trees "conflicting" with landscaping. What I meant to say was that given a relatively small yard space, medium to large shade trees, which would certainly include elms, are often in conflict or competition is perhaps a more precise term, with elements of landscaping. Fewer people, I'm guessing go in for shade gardening.

It is true, though that in New England, as opposed to the Midwest, there are seldom any sizeable public planting strips (i.e., the berm) to plant shade trees and utility poles seem to preclude most such plantings.

Mad Gallica, I have read the buzz on the web about blight resistant American chestut research, which I believe is somewhat more recent than the research that led to the development and release of ded resistant american elms. I've never seen one, though. Does your town in NYS plant disease resistant elms? I'm from Norwich, NY, where about 4 or 5 years ago someone acquired about 30 or so American liberty elms. Since I first observed them about 3 years ago, it seems 1 or 2 succumb to ded each year. Disease pressure is extremely strong in that part of NYS. This is quite sad since I'm sure it will discourage any further elm plantings, of even the better cultivars.

Has anyone read the book "Republic of Shade"? Very sweet book, the best social history of the tree. I highly recommend it for those who haven't.

I googled "Republic of Shade" out of curiosity, and found this review. Sounds like a good read.

Republic of Shade

Amazon.com (of course) has used and new copies for sale.

I personally wouldn't consider planting elms in my area simply because I'm at the edge of the pine barrens, where pine barrens meet red cedars. Elms don't belong here. Nice trees though.

Claire

Welcome to GW!
By no means do I want to discourage you from posting on NEGW, cause I love it and the posters; however, if you really dig trees, check out the tree forum. There are a few top notch tree-lovers and tree-brains there. Some of the discussions have been fascinating, such as one about re-forestation about 6 weeks ago.

But please, stay with us, and maybe you'll light some fires.
marie aka "idabean"

Lol. I am not working out of doors getting my garden ready. I have not mowed the lawn for two weeks. It has been a bit chilly here. I should mow the lawn and I ought to cut down some plants that have gone by, but I just don't feel like it right now. :-)

I shade garden, including some woodland stuff. However, I don't know that much about trees yet. I cleared spaces, mulched where growth was a problem or where it would be easier to mow. ;-) I planted a lot of plants but generally worked with the trees I already have. I have nine gardens, but I have some work to do on different mistakes every year. Some stuff does not come back, some stuff returns with a vengence, and some plants I don't even know what they are or where they came from. I keep them anyway if I like them.

I guess you could say I am working my way up and I have not gotten to trees yet. I have not really even done shrubbery except for moving a few hydrangeas that took over a garden. I have no clue about trees yet but I bet you would do great in the tree forum!