December 1, 2005
Working on the South Glastonbury Main St. project, GPIP volunteers planted three Valley Forge Elms on the West side of Main St. See pictures / read more...

April 29, 2005 On Arbor Day GPIP volunteers met on Elm Tree Road to plant two Valley Forge Elms. Through late winter and into spring, GPIP had worked with Parks and Recreation to pick likely locations and contact homeowners on Elm Tree Road. Two homeowners were interested in having Elms planted in the town right of way on their properties. With the locations set, GPIP members dug two trees in the Town Tree Nursery and prepared them for transplanting. On Arbor Day the trees were planted in the new locations. Glastonbury's Elm Tree Lane, named for its graceful Elm trees now has American Elms growing on it again! >> Click to see the full-size image. >>

A Brief History of Elms
A special interest of the Partners in Planting is the restoration of American Elms to our streets and public places.

In the 19^th and early 20^th centuries many towns and cities in the Eastern United States were defined by their streets lined with American Elms. New Haven, for example, got its moniker "the Elm City" for that reason.

In the 1920s Dutch Elm disease appeared in the U.S. from Europe and began killing millions of American Elms. In a few decades the streetscapes in countless Eastern U.S. towns were radically altered by the loss of their graceful, arching Elm trees. Glastonbury Partners in Planting would like to recapture some of that lost beauty and grandeur by restoring American Elms to Glastonbury's streets and public places.

Some of the trees in the Town Tree Nursery are Valley Forge Elms, a cultivar of American Elm. This cultivar is highly resistant to the devastating Dutch Elm disease. Valley Forge is the result of years of horticultural research to produce a disease-resistant Elm which retains the classic look of the American Elm, and is widely held to be the best of the disease-resistant cultivars.

Another part of Partners in Planting's mission is educating about the value of biodiversity among flora. It was the pratice of planting only Elms that made the effects of Dutch Elm disease so devastating. Had towns and cities planted groups of Elms along with other trees, the loss of the Elms would not have had such an acute effect on streetscapes. Partners in Planting has taken this lesson to heart and works to insure diversity of flora in its planting projects.