elm

Elm trees have always been a beautiful part of the American landscape. In the last century, Dutch Elm Disease has wiped out most of them. Actually you still see a fair number of them around, but they are almost always young ones. Sooner or later the disease catches up with them. You see the bones of these trees all over Vermont. We have one in our back field.

There is an elm tree just off of Route 7 that I have observed for 30 years. It is an anomaly in that it is mature and still in good health. Is it resistant to the disease? Does its relative isolation protect it from the beetles which carry the disease? Certainly it is a miracle, and a beautiful one at that.