Below is attached a report written by Andrew Brookes, of the UK’s Butterfly Conservation, in which all the DED (Dutch Elm Disease) resistant cultivars are illustrated and described as well as where they can be obtained.
Cllr Houston proposes that, as part of our Climate / Nature Emergency Response, we purchase several bare root saplings to replace the many Elms that died from Dutch Elm Disease. We might consider also purchasing one or two ball-rooted specimens for selected locations like the western playground hedge, but these are more expensive.
Elms have been an iconic feature of the British landscape and home for diverse animal species for centuries until the 1980’s after which very few mature Elms survive. Where there were mature Elms, saplings continue to spring up from the old trees’ roots but they never survive into maturity before they are affected by DED.
For example, in the recently layed hedge on the western boundary of the playing field, there are a couple of Elms that have given up the ghost after perhaps 20 years of growth; along the high ridge of Underdown Hollow there are many more dead Elms in the farmer’s hedge.
Other species: The need to consider planting Elms in the village is exacerbated by the advance of Ash Die-back (an Ascomycete fungus) that is devastating trees in Dorset and, again, having a devastating effect on the landscape and biodiversity in our Parish. Hopefully we will be spared the sudden oak death (Phytophthora ramorum) that is wiping out oaks in the US.
There is ongoing research into disease-resistant Ash trees.