Ulmus × hollandica 'Jacqueline Hillier'

Ulmus × hollandica cultivar

'Jacqueline Hillier', Arènes de Lutèce, Paris, 2007
Hybrid parentage U. glabra × U. minor var. plotii
Cultivar 'Jacqueline Hillier'
Origin England

The 'dwarf' elm 'Jacqueline Hillier' ('JH') is believed to be a hybrid cultivar from the Elegantissima Group of Ulmus × hollandica, though uncertainty about its parentage has led some nurserymen to list it simply as Ulmus 'Jacqueline Hillier'. It was cloned from a specimen found in a private garden in Selly Park, Birmingham, England in 1966.[1][2][3]

Description

With time 'JH' makes a large shrub, then a small tree, initially of dense habit, but spreading with age if left unpruned. It bears small, double-toothed scabrid leaves 2.5 cm to 3.5 cm long on densely hairy twigs. In winter its tidy 'herringbone' branches and branchlets proclaim it an elm, despite its shrublike size. 'JH' does not produce flowers.

Pests and diseases

Resistance to Dutch elm disease is not known, but is probably academic as the tree is unlikely to attain the height at which it would attract the attention of the bark beetles that act as vectors of the disease. In trials in the United States, 'JH' was found to be virtually unaffected by the Elm Leaf Beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola .

Cultivation

'JH' is commonly found in cultivation in Europe and the United States,[4] where it is considered particularly suitable for small gardens, rockeries, low hedges, and bonsai. A hardy tree, it is said to survive temperatures as low as - 25° F. ( - 32° C.) in North America.[5] Despite its dwarf nature and its reputation as a slow-grower, 'JH' is said to grow 6 ft (2 m) by 6 ft in ten years [6] - faster than the dwarf wych elm 'Nana'.

Etymology

The cultivar was named for a daughter-in-law of Sir Harold Hillier by Roy Lancaster, when Curator of the Hillier Arboretum.

Notable trees

The UK TROBI Champion grows at Talbot Manor in Norfolk, measuring 8 m high by 28 cm d.b.h. in 2008. Another at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire measured 6 m high by 35 cm d.b.h. in 2006 [7] In keeping with the ancient tradition of planting funerary elms to commemorate the dead, specimens of 'Jacqueline Hillier' were planted on either side of the memorial to the dead in the Quintinshill rail disaster, Britain's worst rail disaster, in Rosebank Cemetery, Edinburgh.

Accessions

North America
Europe
Australasia

Nurseries

North America

Widely available

Europe

Widely available

References

  1. ↑ Hilliers' Manual of Trees & Shrubs. Ed. 4, 399, (1977); David & Charles, Newton Abbot, UK
  2. ↑ Wyman, D. (1967). Arnoldia, 27(6): 61-66, 1967
  3. ↑ 'Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist', 1968
  4. ↑ Photograph of 'JH' in the Netherlands
  5. ↑ http://www.learn2grow.com/gardeningguides/trees/featuredplants/ulmus.aspx
  6. ↑ http://www.learn2grow.com/gardeningguides/trees/featuredplants/ulmus.aspx?page=2
  7. ↑ Johnson, O. (2011). Champion Trees of Britain & Ireland, 169. Kew Publishing, Kew, London. ISBN 9781842464526.
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