Origin USA | ||
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Hybrid parentage Ulmus 'Morton' = Accolade open pollination Cultivar 'Morton Red Tip' = Danada Charm™ Similar Ulmus 'Morton Stalwart, Ulmus minor 'Propendens', Ulmus 'Recerta', Ulmus parvifolia 'King's Ch, Ulmus minor 'Purpurascens' | ||
Ulmus 'Morton Red Tip' (selling name Danada Charm) is a hybrid cultivar raised by the Morton Arboretum from an open pollination of Accolade. The tree has occasionally been reported as a hybrid of Accolade with the Siberian Elm Ulmus pumila, an error probably owing to the commercial propagation of the tree by grafting onto U. pumila rootstocks.
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Description
Danada Charm has a graceful, vase-shaped habit resembling the American Elm Ulmus americana with foliage tinged red on emergence.
Pests and diseases
Although highly resistant to Dutch elm disease, Danada Charm is very susceptible to the elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola [1], Japanese Beetle, and Gypsy moth; it is also moderately preferred by cankerworms.
Cultivation
Danada Charm is very cold hardy; in artificial freezing tests at the arboretum the LT50 (temp. at which 50% of tissues die) was found to be - 31 °C. However, the tree is notorious for its stem breakage owing to narrow crotch angles and included bark; in trials at the University of Minnesota it had the unhappy distinction of being the worst of 17 cultivars for breakage. The tree is currently being evaluated in the National Elm Trial coordinated by Colorado State University.
Danada Charm is being promoted by the Chicagoland Grows corporation but is not widely available in the United States. Very rare in Europe, it is not known (2016) to have been introduced to Australasia.
Etymology
Danada Charm is named for the Daniel F. & Ada L. Rice Foundation, which helped sponsor the elm breeding program at the Morton Arboretum.