Wingham Elm Trees

Wingham Elm Trees

This highly Dutch Elm Disease (DED) resistant Elm is a large, fast-growing variety. It may be the closest thing we will ever see to a resurrection of the Elm landscapes of yesteryear. 
Once mature, Wingham Elms will provide a large, fairly upright canopy of mid-green, oval-shaped leaves.
It flowers from an early age, and in good conditions can grow up to 7m high in 10 years.

Browse all of our large garden trees.

Features:

• Probably the most Dutch Elm Disease resistant cultivar available
• Upright habit
• Requires rich, fertile, moist soil to thrive.
• Wind resistant, very hardy, tolerates urban pollution
• RHS Plants for Pollinators
• Pot grown
• To over 12 metres

Growing Wingham Elms

It really needs a moist fertile soil to thrive, ideally close to a water source.

Growth will be a bit disappointing on chalky or heavy clay soil, but as long as it has full sun it will struggle on, so you should still give it a try if you have space and simply want an Elm back in your life! In such conditions, it is essential to water it in dry summer weather for its first two or three summers, and mulch well around the base with woodchips to help improve the soil.

On the other hand, Elms are practically immune to urban pollution

Did You Know?

Named after the Kentish village where it was successfully trialled by Dr David Herling (1963-2020) at Resistant Elms; the original hybrid came from the Institute of Plant Protection (Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante) in Florence, Italy.
It was developed from a complex, multi-stage hybridization of the following Elm species: Ulmus wallichiana, U. minor, U. pumila, and U. × hollandica ‘Vegeta’.

After testing for DED resistance, Wingham scored 5 out of 5, with no dieback at all (which is the symptom that actually kills trees), and a trivial 1.44% defoliation - barely a scratch!

It shows good promise as a host tree for the White-letter Hairstreak butterfly, which is an endangered species due to its complete dependence on Elms. It's unlikely that any hybrid Elm will ever be quite as palatable to Hairstreaks as our few remaining native elms, but insects adapt quickly and Wingham is certainly good enough to save the species.