My favorite...the Camperdown Elm

[CP Dan]

Ok. So this is a little off the subject of the forum, but I wanted to put something in about my favorite tree, the Camperdown Elm. At least it is related to our morel growing version. ;D For all I know they would grow on it, but these beautiful trees are typically taken very good care of.

For those not familiar with Camperdown Elms, a little history lesson.

"About 1835 - 1840 (often miscalled as '1640'), the Earl of Camperdown’s head forester, David Taylor, discovered a mutant contorted branch growing along the ground in the forest at Camperdown House, in Dundee, Scotland. The earl's gardener produced the first Camperdown Elm by grafting it to the trunk of a Wych Elm Ulmus glabra. Every Camperdown Elm in the world is from a cutting taken from that original mutant cutting and is usually grafted on a Wych elm trunk."

I plan on documenting every Camperdown elm that I can find. If I can, I will try to talk to the owners of the tree to find out as much history about each as I can.

Now then, this first photo is of the very first one I ever saw. The one that made me go "what the hell is that....NEAT!" The tree is located in Horicon, WI. The current home owner moved in to the house in 1967 and estimates that the tree was planted some time in the 1950's. They recall that when they moved in, the tree was small enough that their children were able to throw a sheet over it and use it as a fort.

[CP Dan]

Here is a picture of my sone sitting next to the Camperdown Elm that I planted in my yard. I planted the tree right around mothers day in 2010. This photo was taken shortly after that. It has really grown now! I will post a photo of how it looks now soon.

[Earthmom]

Wow Dan! That tree is amazing! I didn't realize that tree even existed. I certainly would have loved to have one as a kid; your son will love his "hide out" someday.

[mushroommike]

Sweet lil story, where can you purchase camperdown elm saplings?

[CP Dan]

I bought mine from Forest Farm. It's the only place I was able to find that had them for sale. Looks like they still have them

www.forestfarm.com/product.php?id=4674

[Trapperhub]

Dan, I read this thread last year

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[Trapperhub]

I was wondering if you have current pictures of your tree? It is definitely a neat shape.

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[CP Dan]

I no longer live at the house with the small tree (the one with my son chewing the shovel), but I still own the property as a rental. I will take a picture the next time I go over to the house. I planted one at my new place last spring. Here is a shot of that one.

[Trapperhub]

Is there a certain soil type they prefer? Since we live up mouth we have a lot of sand.

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[CP Dan]

I would think that sand would be OK. Although you may need to water it frequently until it gets established. Sand doesn't really hold water that well. I have quite a bit of clay in my ground and it seems to be doing alright. The people at Forest Farms have been pretty helpful. I would think that if you shot them an email they would be able to give you a definative answer.

[CP Dan]

Stopped by the old place last night to take a look at the yard. The neighbor had called me to complain that the tenants haven't been taking care of the yard.....anyway that's a different issue. As long as I was there, I snapped a picture. You can't really tell from the picture, but the tree is about mid chest high.