Ulmus Accolade®

Accolade® elm was selected for its vase-shaped habit with upright arching stems reminiscent of the American elm, (U. americana). Accolade® elm has proven to be a robust and vigorous grower, and is also valued for its fine-textured, dark-green glossy foliage, and yellow fall color. This selection has very good resistance to Dutch elm disease and elm yellows, and is also highly resistant to elm leaf beetle. Accolade™ elm is a chance seedling selection from The Morton Arboretum collections. Both Accolade® and Danada Charm™ elms resulted from open-pollinated seed collected at the Arnold Arboretum from Ulmus davidiana var. japonica. Society of Municipal Arborists 2012 Urban Tree of the Year.

The elm improvement program at The Morton Arboretum was initiated to address the need for an alternative to the American elm which was suffering signifi cant losses at the time due to Dutch elm disease. Hundreds of open-pollinated seedlings were examined and evaluated for Dutch elm disease-resistance, production ease, hardiness, and landscape performance in the Midwestern U.S. Accolade® was the first to be selected not only for disease-resistance but for its American elm-like vase habits and other worthy attributes.