The Stately Elm

Guys...I wanted to share with you some pictures of my American Elm. It is always my first tree to bud each spring and this beauty greets me every morning when I wake up. I took these pictures yesterday and you can see the new buds popping.

I know we like to bash the elm when it comes to splitting it for firewood but, to me, there isn't a more gorgeous tree God has ever made. Mine is about 65 foot tall and has the classic American elm shape. This is such a graceful, stately tree and when you are under it, looking up into its canopy you can really see just how stout and tough these guys are. I hope this one never has to feel the sting of my Husky as it would be a sad day indeed. I think it quietly wept when Herbie was felled this spring in Maine. DED is a horrible thing.

Anyhow...I know this isn't what we are used to on this forum but, I like you guys, and wanted to share this with you. Happy spring. Enjoy.

Truly a beatiful tree....there is just no replacement for a mature American Elm. My front yard also has one and every spring I cross my fingers that it will continue to fend off the dreaded DED. Buds are appearing so I guess we are safe for another year!
Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful tree OWB! Mine is a little bigger, 48in DBH and sits out front like yours. The tree was hit by lightening in 1998, lost a couple limbs and some bark but still comes out each spring. I had contemplated taking it down but its too big for me to handle, plus its healthy still. Has to be 100 years old. I would like to give it some fertilizer but dont know what to use?
Thanks,
Bob

make sure the utility hacks stay away from it! how close is it to the wires?

Fabulous tree. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago--Elmhurst--and the streets were lined with American Elms. Dutch elm disease wiped out over half of them, but I will never forget the canopies they formed over the streets. It was truly spectacular.

I have to wonder if more baseball bats should be made of elm. The maple bats are lighter than ash but they break all the time. Elm bats probably would laugh at a baseball the same way that they laugh at my splitting maul.

Woodcutteranon said:

I know we like to bash the elm when it comes to splitting it for firewood but, to me, there isn't a more gorgeous tree God has ever made.]

Click to expand...

I am going to find out tommorow how elm splits. I am taking a big one down for a guy tommorrow for the wood and will try to hand split some of it for kicks. From the sounds of it I will give my splitter a work out.

biggenius29 said:

I am going to find out tommorow how elm splits. I am taking a big one down for a guy tommorrow for the wood and will try to hand split some of it for kicks. From the sounds of it I will give my splitter a work out.

Click to expand...

Actually, some varieties of elm split rather well. Others are almost impossible to split and string out all over the place. The tree's growing conditions and water content are also other factors. I believe the rule of thumb is to wait until the bark falls off the big round before you try to split it. However, I have even found that this rule sometimes fails.

And, on the same tree, I have found that some branches even split easier that others. Also the direction of the wedge even makes a difference. Rule of thumb there is to send the wedge in the same direction as the tree grew.

You're probably getting tired of seeing these two pics but I always get a chuckle out of them. This is a small round of elm I tried to split for fun. You can see it mocked my attempts with the wedge and sledge. It never did split.

I recall burying three wedges in an elm log that refused to split. That's the nature of the beast.

Note that in your picture, the bark is still attached. Perhaps had you waited until the bark had fallen off, the moisture would have been mostly gone, and the log would have split more cleanly. Just a thought.

Naw, I'm not gonna put a pic of my splitter in this post. In fact, the day the biggest elm (or any tree for that matter) on my property goes down, I'll need a bigger splitter and saw. Hope it's not for a looong time.

Here it is, all 50" DBH (with two shoots 12" and 18" coming off below measuring height. I need to check the height one of these days, will guess in the 80-90' range (I had to back up about 100 yards to get this shot with the camera):



Here's a pic looking up from the base, you can see the two shoots at the edges of the pic:



Sorry the shots aren't better, the light was against me and all I had was the camera phone.

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-....963475&spn=0.00599,0.009645&t=h&z=17&iwloc=A

This is Elm Grove Cemetery in Mystic, CT.

The original roadways were laid out in the shape of an elm tree.

The base of the "trunk" is where the Route 27 oval is in the map.

They've added additional land over the years, so the shape isn't as distinctive as 150 years ago when it was laid out.

I don't even want to know what they charge for the few remaining waterside plots. I suspect they come with a "plus a very large donation to our trust fund..." requirement.

I've driven past this cemetery many times, just from the highway it is absolutely amazing.

I was reading a bit on their website the other day about their history and such. If you go to their homepage you can see the main gate:

http://www.elmgrovecemetery.org/

What impressed me is that was erected a century ago...and the family that built it gave them an endowment which still pays for all the maintenance on the arch plus for someone to open and close the gates every day of the year.

How would you like to be the arborist who works there?