Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-998
Cedar Elm
Ulmus crassifolia
Cedar Elm is a fast, tough shade tree that holds on ground most trees can't - dense waterlogged clay, dry limestone hills, compacted urban soil. It breaks the usual elm calendar by flowering in late summer instead of spring, so its seed ripens in autumn rather than the season everyone expects, and its pollen can trigger severe hay fever if it's planted too close to a window. It shows real, though not complete, resistance to Dutch elm disease. The one catch to growing where nothing else will: only a small fraction of its seed produces a plantable seedling, so raising enough stock takes patience.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun · Partial Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 6–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Dry · Moist
Vertical layer
Canopy- Soil pH
- 5–8.1
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 50–60 ft
- Mature spread
- 40–60 ft
- Plant spacing
- 15–20 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
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 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…
Canopy · USDA 3–9
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
American Persimmon
Diospyros virginiana
American persimmon fruit is bitterly astringent until it goes fully soft-ripe, usually only after the first hard frost, at which point it…
Canopy · USDA 4–9
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference