Origin England Rank Cultivar | Higher classification Ulmus × hollandica | |
 | ||
Hybrid parentage U. glabra × U. minor var. plotii Scientific name Ulmus × hollandica 'Jacqueline Hillier' Similar Ulmus × hollandica, Ulmus × hollandica 'Wredei', Ulmus minor 'Argenteo‑Variegata', Ulmus 'Camperdownii', Ulmus parvifolia 'Geisha' | ||
The 'dwarf' elm 'Jacqueline Hillier' ('JH') is believed to be a hybrid cultivar from the Elegantissima Group of Ulmus × hollandica, though uncertainty about its parentage has led some nurserymen to list it simply as Ulmus 'Jacqueline Hillier'. It was cloned from a specimen found in a private garden in Selly Park, Birmingham, England in 1966.
Contents
Description
With time 'JH' makes a large shrub, then a small tree, initially of dense habit, but spreading with age if left unpruned. It bears small, double-toothed scabrid leaves 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm long on densely hairy twigs. In winter its tidy 'herringbone' branches and branchlets proclaim it an elm, despite its shrublike size. 'JH' does not produce flowers.
Pests and diseases
Resistance to Dutch elm disease is not known, but is probably academic as the tree is unlikely to attain the height at which it would attract the attention of the bark beetles that act as vectors of the disease. In trials in the United States, 'JH' was found to be virtually unaffected by the Elm Leaf Beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola [1].
Cultivation
'JH' is commonly found in cultivation in Europe and the United States, where it is considered particularly suitable for small gardens, rockeries, low hedges, and bonsai. A hardy tree, it is said to survive temperatures as low as - 25° F. ( - 32° C.) in North America. Despite its dwarf nature and its reputation as a slow-grower, 'JH' is said to grow 6 ft (2 m) by 6 ft in ten years - faster than the dwarf wych elm 'Nana'.
Etymology
The cultivar was named for a daughter-in-law of Sir Harold Hillier by Roy Lancaster, when Curator of the Hillier Arboretum.
Notable trees
The UK TROBI Champion grows at Talbot Manor in Norfolk, measuring 8 m high by 28 cm d.b.h. in 2008. Another at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire measured 6 m high by 35 cm d.b.h. in 2006 In keeping with the ancient tradition of planting funerary elms to commemorate the dead, specimens of 'Jacqueline Hillier' were planted on either side of the memorial to the dead in the Quintinshill rail disaster, Britain's worst rail disaster, in Rosebank Cemetery, Edinburgh.
Accessions
Nurseries
Widely available
Widely available