This happened last week while I was out of town camping. On my map I had marked it as the largest diameter elm in the park, estimating its diameter as 5.5 feet. The parks gardener, Deborah Hulse, says she was told that this elm was removed because of Dutch Elm disease. The main early symptom of the disease is yellowing of the leaves in the early summer. I will have to keep a closer eye out for this now. Hollowed out Elm trees were once used as water pipes, and I’m not seeing center rot as a symptom of Dutch Elm disease which is a fungus spread by bark beetles.

Tompkins Square Park still has a large number of American Elms, they were all but wiped out elsewhere, but there were twice as many twenty years ago. The park was leveled of trees in the 1860′s for use by Union soldiers as a parade ground. I have heard that the giant elms that we have here now were planted in the 1880′s, so these trees are well over a century old and are likely succumbing to old age. I need to do a more extensive post on all the American Elms we have lost in Tompkins Square Park recently.

This is right after hurricane Irene on 8/29/11 when a large branch came down.

Here’s how it looked in April 2012 with cherry trees blossoming in the background.

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Filed under: East Village, Nature, Parks, Photos , Elms, Tompkins Square Park, TSPTIP by gamma