Zelkova serrata Re-introduce self-pruning to a clean trunk

self-pruning to a clean trunk topped by whorls of upturned branches that flatten with age into the candelabra or umbrella crown that names the tree

and quietly parted from their labels along the way

and a robust evergreen quite apart from that role

the tree covers itself in dense two-to-three-inch panicles of small

peacock moss has been grown and gathered for centuries

Zelkova serrata Re-introduce self-pruning to a clean trunkOne of the finest shade trees for a hard place. Zelkova serrata, the Japanese zelkova, is a deciduous tree of the elm family, native to Japan, Korea, and eastern China, long valued as the sacred keyaki of Japanese temples and a prized timber and bonsai subject. In the West the tree has become a leading street and lawn tree, in no small part as a graceful, disease resistant stand in for the American elms lost to Dutch elm disease. The form is the