Young tree planters were among the dozens of neighbors who gathered on March 12 to plant disease-resistant elm trees in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood of Southeast Portland. Thirteen young Accolade® Elm trees purchased from J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. were planted to enhance the existing urban tree canopy. They will grow to maturity amidst a magnificent grove of American Elms that shades various streets in this neighborhood, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. They are cared for by Save Our Elms (SOE) .

Save Our Elms is an all-volunteer non-profit foundation, established by Ladd’s Addition residents in 1995. Their primary mission is to replant lost elms, inoculate old elms with fungicides to prevent the advance of Dutch Elm Disease, and to coordinate neighborhood-wide pruning and sanitation programs. SOE also educates the public on tree care and the importance of urban trees, promotes community tree partnerships, and helps other neighborhood groups establish elm protection programs.

Save Our Elms holds various events to raise funds for purchasing new trees and the fungicidal inoculants needed for treating Dutch Elm Disease. Their main fund raiser is a Mother’s Day Benefit for Elms. This year’s Tour of Ladd’s Addition Historic Homes, Parks and Trees will take place on Sunday, May 8, from 1-5 p.m. The historic homes and landscapes are a treasure, and well worth the price of admission. All proceeds go toward preservation efforts for the historic street tree planting in Oregon’s oldest planned community.

Created in 1891, the tree-lined streets of Ladd’s Addition radiate from a central rose garden/traffic circle that serves as the hub of the neighborhood. The stars of this leafy, shaded, tranquil neighborhood are the approximately 250 American Elms that grace its streets. Norway Maples, Little Leaf Lindens, Birch and others species were also planted by the Ladd Estate Co. in about 1910.

Since 1986, Ladd homeowners have planted approximately 700 trees purchased from J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. Eager to maintain the cathedral-like presence of the American Elms that were declining due to the onset of Dutch Elm Disease in Oregon, they bought their first DED-resistant hybrids from the nursery in 1990. The blazing yellow autumn leaves of these Homestead Elms, planted as one-inch caliper bare root trees, inspired a phone call to the nursery last fall. SOE founder and Ladd’s Addition resident Richard N. Ross called to tell us how the trees are maturing to great beauty.

“You’ve got to come down and see these trees,” Ross said. “Their fall color is beautiful, and you won’t believe how much they’ve grown.”

An Accolade Elm is planted to replace an old tree lost to Dutch Elm Disease.

And grow they have. Branches of the first group of 120 trees planted in 1990 reach halfway to the tops of the old trees with which they are interplanted. They tower 30-35 feet above Ross, who is particularly fond of the neighborhood’s elms thanks to having grown up in New Jersey during the years when Dutch Elm Disease felled most of the trees of his childhood.

“By growing the new disease resistant elms and making them available to us, J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co. has been an important partner in our effort to preserve our neighborhood’s elm grove,” Ross stated.  “On balance, Save Our Elms and the City have kept the Ladd’s elm grove and several others in East Portland healthy and expanding, while Dutch Elm Disease losses are minimal.”