Elm Tree Alternatives -- Chinese Elm Trees

Many of you have probably steered clear of planting American elm trees in your yards, due to their susceptibility to Dutch elm disease. But did you know that alternatives do exist? Steve Nix, About's Forestry Guide, gives you a couple of alternatives to ponder in this article, including Chinese elm trees.

If you have your heart set on recapturing a piece of early 20th-century America, when American elm trees lined city streets, Chinese elm trees may not cut it for you. But thanks to the plant cloning work of tree geneticist Alden Townsend, the prognosis for American elms is now good. In the late 1990s approximately twenty-five years of plant cloning work on American elms came to fruition when the announcement was made: Townsend had finished cloning two new strains of American elms.

These plant clones are resistant to Dutch elm disease. Named Ulmus americana "Valley Forge" and Ulmus americana "New Harmony," Townsend's plant clones are now on the market. And the plant cloning work of tree geneticists continues, in hopes of developing new American elms that will be even more resistant to Dutch elm disease, thereby providing an alternative to Chinese elm trees.

Related resource: American Elm Trees