New Perspectives for the Use of Elms as Street Trees

As a result of the continuing problems with Dutch elm disease in the Netherlands the dominant role of elm as a street tree has diminished strongly in the last decades of the 20th century. New cultivars with increased resistance to DED are used to a limited extent only. This paper reports on the first results of a project that aims to restore the position of the elm as a street tree in the Netherlands by providing information on these new cultivars. In particular the relative levels of resistance and their value as street tree are being tested. From the preliminary results it follows that there is a large variation in resistance and that there are several cultivars available that show no or only limited symptoms after severe inoculation in an experimental field test. In addition design and first results of the evaluation of their value as street tree are described.