elm that sucumbed to last winter

Hi all these are the last pictures i have taken of my chinese elm ,looks like the worst of the winter took its toll .been in my collection for the last 13 years and had built up a pretty decent ramification .scrapped a bit of bark away but showing no signs of sap. any suggestions ? cant bring my self to throw it away yet

Dave, it's way to soon to give up hope. Watch the water and don't keep it "wet" but don't let it dry out. I've personally seen plants come out as late as mid-summer and have "heard" of one coming back a year later. If it comes out later, feed and let it grow.
Wood

Thanks Gary i have placed it in a shaded part of my garden , been checking daily for signs, will wait and see what happens

Dave

Jeez I feel for you. That is such a beauty. Wait a while yet as said above.

Mike

thanks Mike got my fingers crossed ,everything else in the garden is in leaf ,will be gutted if this is a gonna

Sorry to hear this Dave. Apart from anything else, it's been part of the family for a long time now. It's been a funny old Spring and a few of my trees are just emerging, even now.

Wow, what a beautiful tree. I really hope it comes back for you. Its way too nice to throw away if it doesn't make it. If you decide it isn't coming back, I would try and preserve it somehow with wood hardener and make it into a permanent display or try and grow a fig as an epiphytic style on top of it.
Jon

It's a very good tree Dave. I hope it can recover.

regards,
jun

In my early days of bonsai I had a club member have the same thing happen to his tree as yours and it looked pretty similar also, a nice looking ch elm. I too had a few good looking ones and the only difference between his dying and mine not, was that he kept his outside all winter while mine was in and out of the garage during very cold days and days not so cold. Ch. elms are semi tropical and in my opinion just can't handle the very cold weather. I have never lost a ch. elm coming out of winter into spring. My biggest problem with ch elms are scale. You can tell if it's dead or not by grabbing hold of a few branches in one hand and if they are dead they will be brittle and snap right off. If they are like wire and will bend but not snap you might still stand a chance. Good luck.

That is a beautiful elm!!I AM SORRY IT IS HAVEING TROUBLE...I hope you can bring it around..i love elm trees....i will keep my fingers crossed for you...good luck take care john

If that were my tree and it had passed on, I would almost want to preserve it in wood hardener and keep it as a stunning example of ramification. I have a chi-elm that i popped in the ground last year that is still dormant, so maybee there is hope for you yet. This may sound crazy but If she died maybe you could thin out some larger branches and train a grape vine up into the skeletal framework-maybee a virginia creeper, possibly going for a look of a tree that has been killed by a vine? I dont know, just grasping at straws to try and recomend some sort of way to salvage that and still offer a presentable composition. What a shame if it passed.

thanks guys for all the kind words i will keep you posted if anything happens

I have the same problem with my 2 elms ;/... if you can break branches easily you know it's over...