🌳 torontotrees

Species profile

American Valley Forge Elm

Ulmus americana

2,311 on Toronto's streets — 0.34% of the city's catalogued canopy.

Map of Toronto with every american valley forge elm highlighted, over a dimmed dot-map of every other species in the city.

🍁 Fall colour Oct 1 – Oct 20: golden yellow, Dutch-elm survivors

Toronto history — American elm — was the defining tree of Toronto's streets a century ago. Dutch elm disease killed most of them in the 1960s-70s. Current survivors are kept alive with periodic fungicide injections; the 'Valley Forge' cultivar is newly-planted for disease resistance.

Ulmus americana, generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. The trees can live for several hundred years. It is a very hardy species that can withstand low winter temperatures. The American elm was once exceptionally common as a street tree, its tolerance of urban conditions making it a popular choice t

Planting profile (from the City of Toronto)

Native toNative to Ontario
Mature sizeLarge, 20m high by 18m wide
Growth rateFast
SensitivityVery Hardy
Best siteLawns and boulevards
Plants under overhead wiresNo

Where they cluster

NeighbourhoodTrees
Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills125
Rosedale-Moore Park82
St.Andrew-Windfields74
Forest Hill South63
Wychwood59
Banbury-Don Mills49
Brookhaven-Amesbury47
High Park-Swansea46

Notable specimens

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