General Information: (847) 835-5440 Media Only: Julie McCaffrey (847) 835-6829 jmccaffrey@chicagobotanic.org		For Immediate Release

Glencoe, Ill. (February 7, 2005) – Strong, upright branching and medium texture make the new Triumph™ elm Ulmus x ‘Morton Glossy’ easy to train and an attractive young-tree alternative to other elms.

Triumph elm is marketed through Chicagoland Grows®, Inc. It is the second in a line of many trees to be introduced from the elm improvement program at The Morton Arboretum.

This selection resulted from a controlled cross between the Vanguard™ elm (Ulmus pumila x Ulmus japonica) and Accolade™ elm (Ulmus japonica x Ulmus wilsoniana), conducted by George Ware, Ph.D., at The Morton Arboretum. Attractive as a young tree, Triumph elm’s growth rate is fast as a young specimen—up to 3 feet per year, then 1 to 1.5 feet per year until maturity, when it reaches its peak at 50 to 60 feet tall by 40 to 50 feet wide.

The elm develops softly arching branches as it matures. An excellent shade tree for home and commercial landscapes, Triumph elm is a wonderful park or street tree, offering excellent disease and pest resistance to Dutch elm disease, elm yellows and elm leaf beetle.

Selected for its refined oval habit, medium texture and ease in training, Triumph elm’s ornamental characteristics include large, lustrous, dark green foliage in summer and yellow fall color. It is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9. Triumph elm is easily transplanted as a balled and burlapped plant. It is quick to establish and regain rapid growth and is adaptable to most soil types, except those that are excessively wet.

“Because of Dutch elm disease, elms have not been widely grown in nurseries for the past four or five decades,” said Angela Palmer, plant introduction manager, Chicagoland Grows. “Since elms have not been grown, the current generation of tree growers has forgotten how to grow elms. Triumph helps growers produce elms with ease. It is easy to train as a small tree, and it makes a lovely specimen after just two years of growth in the field.”

Triumph elm is available through the Chicagoland Grows network of licensed wholesale nurseries. For more information, visit www.chicagolandgrows.org/retail.html or call (847) 835-8301. For information on plant breeding at the Chicago Botanic Garden, visit www.chicagobotanic.org/research/breeding/index.html; at The Morton Arboretum, visit www.mortonarb.org/research/treebreeding.html.

Chicagoland Grows®, Inc., is a unique partnership among the Chicago Botanic Garden, The Morton Arboretum and the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois, offering the landscape professional and the home gardener alike an appealing array of quality plants— evaluated and produced for Northern growing conditions. For more information visit www.chicagolandgrows.org.

Editors, please note: Press releases and images can be obtained online at www.chicagobotanic.org/pr.