'Wredei' Golden Elm Trees

Golden Elm Trees: Ulmus x hollandica 'Wredei' / 'Dampieri Aurea'

This narrow, upright, yellow-leaf Elm is so good for a small garden, indeed any garden, that it's a shame it's not planted more often due to concerns about Dutch Elm Disease.

It only grows to about 8m tall, and is about as narrow as a flagpole cherry when it's young. If left unpruned, mature trees will speard to a modest 4m wide at the top of the canopy.

Browse all of our large garden trees.

Features

• Very narrow & upright when young, spreading a little with age if not pruned
• Wind resistant, very hardy, tolerates urban pollution
• RHS Award of Garden Merit
• Reported to have good Dutch Elm Disease resistance
• Pot grown
• To 8 metres

Growing Golden Elms

Elms naturally love a moist, fertile soil close to a water source. But they were also widespread street trees, so they'll grow in pretty much anything, and are practically immune to urban pollution.

Growth rate will be a bit disappointing on chalky soil, but as long as it has plenty of sun and mulch it'll get there eventually!

In dry soils, Elms need extra help to establish:

• We normally recommend you water a new tree well in its first Summer, and during long dry spells in its second.
• With Elms, we would water well in Summer for 2 years, then in dry spells in year 3.
• Mulch is always recommended, doubly so with Elms. If your soil is poor, we recommend a rich mulch of manure.

Golden Elm's Dutch Elm Disease Resistance

To our surprise, we couldn't find any Dutch Elm Disease studies that included either 'Wredei' or its parent, 'Dampieri'.

The RHS cautiously states that it's "said to be more resistant than many other elm species", and the International Dendrology Society somewhat ambiguously says "it proved very resistant to the first outbreak", with no mention of subsequent outbreaks.

History & Trivia

This sport (one branch that is unlike the rest of the tree) of Ulmus 'Dampieri' appeared in 1875 in Germany's Alt-Geltow Arboretum.
It was discovered by and named after Royal Horticultural Inspector Joseph Wrede (1831–1912), but because 'Dampieri' was already well known in Europe, it was often marketed as 'Dampieri Aurea'.
Using the latter name may also have been for the British market (William Dampier was an English buccaneer) at a time when Britain was increasingly hostile towards Germany, but we haven't found direct evidence for that. 

This Golden Elm is not common in the UK, but its green leaved parent was widely planted as a street tree in Holland and Belgium between the 1860's and the outbreak of Dutch Elm Disease; it is resistant, but not immune, and so fell out of favour.

It is one of three varieties commonly known as Golden Elm: the other two are Ulmus 'Lutescens' and Ulmus 'Louis van Houtte'.