- Excellent Disease Resistance
- Bold Form with Finely Textured Foliage
- Glossy, Dark-Green Leaves
- Golden Yellow Fall Color
- Dynamic Vase-Shape
- Fast Growth Rate, Especially While Young
- Beautiful Mature Form
- Outstanding Shade Tree
- Great as a Street Tree
- Can Grow in Full Sun or Partial Shade
- Tolerates Periodic Drought
- Tolerates Urban Conditions
The Green Industry works hard behind the scenes to sample and study new plants to bring to market. That effort can take many years, and only a handful of varieties may ever make a big impact on residential and commercial landscapes.
The gorgeous, vase-shaped Accolade™ Elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica ‘Morton’) tree is a perfect example of these endeavors. It grows quickly, with upright, arching branches that provides a shady sanctuary for you and your family.
A Chicagoland Grows® selection, Accolade Elm was developed in partnership between the famed Morton Arboretum at the Chicago Botanic Garden and a network of plant nurseries in Illinois. Their goal was to find disease-resistant alternatives that brought back the spectacular Elm tree to American landscapes.
They studied hundreds of seedlings for health, hardiness and landscape performance. Accolade Elm demonstrates very good resistance to Dutch Elm disease, and Elm leaf beetle.
Featuring finely textured, glossy leaves and golden-yellow fall color, Accolade is especially useful as a street, parkway or shade tree. It grants that elegant upright, spreading vase-shape you love about Elms.
Truly a labor of love, Accolade is a very worthy landscape tree to gentrify your landscape with easy charm. It grows fast, especially as a young tree.
This strapping tree is very handsome. Imagine the many years of enjoyment spent entertaining and playing underneath its broad canopy.
How many Elm Streets are there in towns and cities across the United States? These magnificent trees were an incredible natural resource for our city streets and yards.
We’re so grateful for the dedication of the Green Industry to supply viable, widely adaptable options for the American Elm. Take a stand with the showy shade tree, Accolade Elm.
How to Use Accolade™ Elm in the Landscape
These stately, fast-growing trees provide a generous amount of shade. Plant one on the south or southwestern aspect of your lawn.
Please give them (and all large trees) plenty of room to achieve their mature height and spread. If you have the room, you can use several in a lush, park-like grouping.
Elms have always looked incredible as street trees. With their upright stems arching up and out, you’ll create a beautiful allée. Durable, rugged Accolade Elm tolerates urban conditions.
In recent decades, Americans have learned a lot about the importance of plant biodiversity. Try a very modern approach to street plantings by alternating three or five Accolade Elms with other trees, such as a set of Shawnee Brave Bald Cypress and Princeton Sentry Ginkgo.
You’ll achieve a formal look, but improve the critical diversity of trees. Enjoy looking through our extensive catalog to create the combination that works best for your space.
Commercial property owners should take note, as well. Shade with Accolade Elm, Autumn Blaze Maple, Burgundy Sweet Gum and Pin Oak in opulent clusters.
Vary the spacing and think “outside the straight line” for the most natural effect. You’ll have plenty of interest in your property, especially if you add thoughtful walking trails and benches through your plantings.
Tips for Care
Accolade Elm is highly adaptable, easy to grow and maintain in full sun or partial shade. It will need at least four hours of direct sunlight a day.
Give it well-drained soils for best results. Establish young trees with a medium amount of water, especially when the weather is hot and dry.
Once established after the first few seasons, Accolade Elm tolerates some drought. However, we recommend that you keep up with the supplemental watering in drought to keep your tree healthy and stress-free.
Apply a three-inch layer of pine mulch over the root system. Then, pull the mulch back least six inches from around the trunk.
These speedy trees have a fast growth rate and you can balance the canopy with strategic pruning. Pruning is best done in early spring, starting when the tree is young.
