Is the pear one of them Bradford invasive types that break in the wind and habe flowers which smell like urine? Are they listed as an invasive weed not to be planted by your state like mine?

A regular pear growing pear tree I might keep.

How tall is the pear tree, and how much did it cost? I'd probably move it.

The pear tree is a grafted domestic pear, Le Conte. It is about 6 ft. tall. It was about $20. The two years I have spent watering it to get it established far over-shadow the initial cost of the tree.

i would think you might get a lot of years out of the pear before it needs to go ... based on your descriptive words alone ...

now ... how sure are we its an american elm.. and not the carpy siberian elm???? .. if its the later.. get rid of that one ... though it is properly sited ... what sounds like far away from the house ...

ken

I keep envisioning the pear trying to grow beneath a 60' elm tree.

==>>> absolutely ... but he said its only 12 feet tall now ... plenty of time ...

boy deja vu ... i swear i said that before in a similar facts scenario ...

still like to confirm the elm Id though ...

ken

dont cut down ANY trees UNLESS you plan to replace them with something else

One of the disappointing things about American elm versus DED is the fact that the bark beetle vectors which carry the disease to new host trees are not attracted to small, pole-stage stock. As such-and I'm sure many of us have gone through this-we often see youngish elms, thinking, "hmmm....must be disease-resistant" when in fact, it is no such thing. Could that be in play here too?

+oM

Well maybe. But central Texas does not seem to be affected very much if at all by DED. I have never seen a mature American Elm down here die. But the ones we have are very scattered. They mostly grow along creeks and rivers, and scattered speciimens at that, and as such may be separated from the next population by miles. Assume the heat and dryness, as well as the scattered status of the trees keeps DED from damaging the population, altho they may have genetics that resist the disease. Someone would have to take seed from here and test it to be sure I suppose.

Yes, that scenario you describe is likely the reason for the continued health of those mature ones. My view has been shaped by seeing (and participating in) the removal of thousands upon thousands of elm street trees. Just in this community alone-human population now around 80,000, we-the City's Forestry division-removed one thousand streetside elms a year for over ten years straight. and that's not counting the later stragglers. This part of the world really got hit by DED.

+oM