American Elm

It's unusual to have any leaves left on the trees here on November 2, and to have leaves and temperatures in the 50's (10's C) was a real treat. So, in keeping with the Colour Challenge, the color today is yellow. It was a perfectly clear, windless, blue sky day and the American Elms (Ulmus Americana) are the last trees to hold their leaves, except for the young oaks who will hold them all winter. These trees were heavily planted in the post WWII suburbs as a shade tree, probably because they were quick growing and attractive, providing quick shade in the new "developments" of the time. Unfortunately, they are highly susceptible to Dutch Elm Disease (go figure) and many of these planted suburban trees were decimated by the disease shortly after reaching maturity. The disease is actually a fungus that is carried by the elm bark beetle. One of the outstanding features of American Elms is the smooth gray bark that resembles the skin of an elephant and often these are the trees that have messages (hearts and initials) carved in them because they have such a smooth surface on which to carve. They have since developed resistant varieties of the trees but they are certainly not mass planted like they used to be. These are just in our "woods" and grow "wild" in amongst the others.

Back on September 14, I blipped an ODD Dogwood tree that held its flowers all summer, well, it's still an oddity holding on to its GREEN leaves when it should be shedding its leaves.