Elm trees dedicated at YSU Veteran's center today

YOUNGSTOWN

Even though Dutch elm disease killed and decimated many American elm trees decades ago, the popular tree is seeing a resurgence, a local garden-club member contends.

“The tree is making a comeback,” said Dan Burns, a Men’s Garden Club of Youngstown member.

Burns spoke during a ceremony today at the Veterans Resource Center, 633 Wick Ave., where Youngstown State University dedicated two 20-foot elms that recently had been planted on either side of the center’s rear entrance.

The local garden club planted the trees as part of a nationwide effort called the American Elm Tree Project, which encourages the planting of disease-

resistant varieties in parks and other public spaces.

DED is a fungal disease typically carried by beetles or transmitted through connected roots and often kills the trees after the fungal spores move through the root system or up the branches.

The country’s earliest settlers discovered elm trees, and by the early 1800s, they became popular as memorial trees, Burns noted. Their numbers increased largely because oak and other types of trees were more preferable for lumber, he continued.

By the 1930s, an estimated 25 million such trees had been planted, noted Lynn Hoffmann, another garden-club member.

Read more about the trees and the dedication in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.