If you have been planning to grow or plant some trees in your backyard you want something that looks beautiful. You don’t want your yard or garden to look like a graveyard for half the year. For these situations, I would recommend choosing evergreen trees. It is not always easy to find evergreen trees in every region of the world. However, Elm trees are pretty popular and can be found in most regions of the world unlike Pine, Spruce, Fir, and Red Cedar.
Some people say that elm trees are evergreen while some call them deciduous. In reality, they are considered to be semi-deciduous. This is because of the short time in which they lose their leaves.
WHAT TYPE OF TREES ARE EVERGREEN?
If you are new to the world of botany or trees, let’s do a small crash course on this topic. Usually, if you go tree hunting or to a nursery, you will find two types of trees. There are more types out there but these two are the most commonly used. They are Evergreen or Deciduous.
Evergreen trees as the name suggest, tend to stay green all year round. This means that they don’t lose their leaves during the winter. They are most commonly found in the tropical regions of the world. Now, it’s not like they don’t lose their leaves at all. They just lose them one by one in different areas of the tree.
Deciduous trees on the other hand and I am sure you can guess by this point, tend to lose all their leaves once a year. The reason for this is protection. They need to make some changes to survive extreme cold or heat. By losing their leaves they can save water and sort of go into hibernation.
There are some species that are considered to be evergreen in nature. Some of these are conifers, angiosperms, clubmosses, and even conifers are considered to be evergreen. Note one thing here that not all conifer trees are evergreen, larch is an example. But pines, blue spruces, red cedar are all evergreen conifers.
If you live in a colder climate region chances are that most of the trees around you are not evergreen.
ARE ELM TREES EVERGREEN?
There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the trying nature of an Elm tree. Some people think of them as being evergreen while some say they are deciduous. The truth is that they fall somewhere in the middle of both. They are regarded to be semi-deciduous.
But what does this mean? It is a term given to trees that do show signs of a deciduous tree. Like changing their color during the fall season and shedding their leaves. But this happens for a very short amount of time.
There are about 30-40 species of Elms in the world. Some of them lose all their leaves for a short time. On the other hand, some only loose leaves from one side of the tree at a time. Usually, in areas that are colder or dryer than the average, chances are that the tree will lose all its leaves for a short time.
Very few people can say with a surety how many total species of Elms are there in the world. Because of their extensive use in the 18th and 19th centuries, a lot of hybrid varieties were created.
DO ELM TREES LOSE THEIR LEAVES
As I talked about in the last section, elms are considered to half deciduous. This means that they do shed leaves but for a very short amount of time. The other possibility is that only some part of the tree loses its leaves for some period of time.
ARE ELM GOOD TREES FOR YARD?
Interestingly, one of the main reasons why Elms were adopted in the US and Europe was for streets and yards. They were considered to be perfect for planting in the yard. Especially in areas where it gets a bit cold in the winter.
The reason for this was their semi-deciduous nature. They have great full foliage in the summers which basically gives shade to the house, keeping the temperature cool. In the winter they would lose their leaves and let sunlight come back in. They also grew all their leaves back by the time it started to get hot again.
Elms are very durable trees. One contributing factor for their popularity was their resistance to pollution and smog. They also can sustain almost any type of soil, be it sandy or clay. They can grow up to be about 75 feet in height, this was considered perfect for using on streets and backyards or gardens.
If you wanted some natural privacy from prying eyes outside, this tree would be perfect.
One thing to keep in mind is that some types of Elms can lose their branches pretty easily. If you are thinking of planting them, keep some distance from the house.
Their popularity has decreased because of a disease that started about 70-80 years ago. It has been responsible for killing millions of Elms over time, completely decimating the population. Some cultivators managed to develop some disease resistance varieties though. The disease was known as the Dutch Elm Disease.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Trust me, you don’t want to invest your time and money into a tree only to be unhappy about it later. Before making the final decision make sure you have no doubts about it. I will try to address some of the most popular questions related to planting Elms. Hopefully, it will make it easier for you to make the decision.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE ELM SPECIES YOU SHOULD GO FOR?
The Valley Forge and Jefferson American Elms are a good choice to go for. They are also somewhat disease resistant. The Caperdown Elm is also a good choice. Other than these the Cherry bark Elm and Chinese Elms are also a great choice.
WHICH AREAS OF THE WORLD ARE ELMS USUALLY FOUND IN?
One of the reasons why this species got so popular in the first place was its survivability. It could be planted on most kinds of soil and climates. This is the reason for their widespread availability. Ranging from North America to Europe to even Indonesia. They can be found in most of the Northern Hemisphere.
HOW TO TELL IF THE ELM YOU HAVE PLANTED IS SUFFERING FROM DUTCH ELM DISEASE?
This species is half deciduous, if you notice that the tree is shedding its leaves from the top then it can be as a sign of a Dutch Elm Disease. Especially if this happens in summers or even late spring. Slowly the whole tree will start withering away.
CONCLUSION
To sum it all up, Elms are a great choice for any backyard. One thing to keep in mind is to go for a disease-resistant variety. Elms are semi-deciduous so they are a perfect choice for slightly colder climates. They were extremely popular in the 19th and 20th centuries. Because of the Dutch Elm disease, a lot of the trees have died down over the years.
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I am the guy behind Theyardable.com. I grew up on a homestead and I am here to share the knowledge I have and things I learn while living in the countryside.
