Hokkaido Dwarf Lacebark Elm

Hokkaido Dwarf Lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia 'Hokkaido') is a miniature deciduous elm with leaves smaller than a fingernail and rough corky bark that develops on stems only a few years old, reaching 2 to 3 feet tall and wide over a very long time in zones 5 through 9.

This is the smallest elm in cultivation and one of the slowest woody plants you can grow, adding an inch or two a year. The reason to plant it is the bark. Lacebark Elm is named for the mottled exfoliating trunk it develops as a shade tree, and Hokkaido produces that texture in miniature, on a plant you can hold at eye level. Bonsai growers have used it for decades for exactly this reason.

Give it a trough, a container, a raised crevice bed, or a protected pocket in a rock garden. It leafs out late, drops its leaves in fall, and shows its branch structure and bark through winter.

• Light: full sun to partial sun
• Water: steady moisture, small containers dry quickly
• Soil: well drained, tolerates a wide pH range
• Care: prune in late winter to shape, protect roots in containers over winter

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