136. Bishop’s Elm
A young upstart makes a statement in Chichester’s historic Bishop’s Palace Garden.
English cathedrals often have old or interesting trees associated with them, and Chichester is particularly well stocked. In its delightful Bishop’s Palace Garden, one of the most striking trees is a relative youngster: a broom-like Lobel elm, which holds its own among a collection of superb, mostly older trees in this historic garden.
Species details
Lobel elm
Ulmus ‘Lobel’
Where to find it
Bishop's Palace Garden, Canon Lane, Chichester PO19 1PX
///grants.bonus.flags | 50.835745, -0.783697
Lobel elm notes
There are lots of elm cultivars, all uncommon these days. Some are traditional ones, developed in the nineteenth century, but many are from the late twentieth century, a response to the Dutch elm disease pandemic which decimated most of Europe’s elms, especially the susceptible types that were once so common across the continent. ‘Lobel’ is recent, a cultivar with complex parentage, but good resistance to disease originating in the 1970s in the Netherlands. It is very distinctive with its fastigiate form of upward sweeping branches, and although the oldest individuals are only about 50 years old, it is a tree that is already making a statement.
You've been in my neck of the (urban) woods! (I'm a volunteer Chichester Tree Warden.)
There's actually another Lobel at https://www.treesinchi.org/chichester-tree-trail#TT26HybridDutchElmonNorthWallsWalk (it suckers vigorously).
Lots more info. on Bishop's Palace Garden at https://www.treesinchi.org/bishops-palace-garden and you'll probably enjoy the Sussex Gardens Trust Article (pdf linked from https://www.treesinchi.org/bishops-palace-garden/bpg---history , which page I realise I haven't finished writing up yet). It mentions an even rarer "Palace Garden" lime hybrid that didn't formally get named; and a circa 300-year-old box tree that was infested with box tree moth for the first time last year.
Our St Richard's hospital has a lovely Camperdown Elm, if you need another tree ... (Chichester District Council did have a better one, but it was damaged and it looks like the beetle got in - it's currently limping on).
Very much enjoying your trees, great companions as I am reading Oliver Rackham’s The History of the Countryside and his segment on trees and woodlands and forests, with side notes from wife as she shares reports from her friend the dendochronologist in Scotland.