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Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-161
American Elm
Ulmus americana
American Elm is a native stream-bank tree that grows into a 60 to 80 foot vase-shaped shade crown and, once mature, becomes one of the strongest wildlife trees around - its seed, bark and cover feed and shelter songbirds, small mammals and several butterfly species. Its shallow, wide-spreading roots hold a pond berm, creek bank or swale edge together, but the same roots will lift a septic field, water line or foundation, so placement decides whether that root system is an asset or a liability. Dutch elm disease emptied the species from much of its historical range further north, but it is treated as a minor pressure in warmer regions, so choosing a resistant cultivar is a preference here rather than a requirement.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 3–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Well-Drained · Moderate · Wet
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 6–8
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 60–80 ft
- Mature spread
- 30–60 ft
- Plant spacing
- 60 ft
- Root type
- Fibrous-shallow
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
Alligator Juniper
Juniperus deppeana
Alligator juniper is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen conifer named for its thick, deeply furrowed, plated bark that resembles reptile…
Canopy · USDA 6–9
Almond
Prunus amygdalus
Almond flowers earlier than almost any other cultivated tree, which is its biggest weakness as much as its gift to early pollinators - a warm…
Canopy · USDA 7–9
American Basswood
Tilia americana
American Basswood is famous for the bees - mature trees hum audibly for several feet around when they bloom in early summer, giving one of…
Canopy · USDA 3–8
American Beech
Fagus grandifolia
American Beech is a slow, long-lived shade tree that can establish and eventually fruit even under an existing forest canopy, unlike almost…
Canopy · USDA 3–9
American Chestnut
Castanea dentata
American chestnut once carried the sweetest nut of any chestnut species and covered more than 200 million acres of eastern forest, but an…
Canopy · USDA 5–8
American Holly
Ilex opaca
American holly is a slow-growing evergreen understory tree with spiny, leathery leaves and bright red winter berries that at least eighteen…
Canopy · USDA 5–9
The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
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- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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