Across the cities in Eastern China, you’ll notice few native trees in use, so when you do come across a mature one, and one that is beautiful in its own right, its memory stands out. Such is the tall and narrow-crowned lacebark elm near the Jing’an Temple subway exit in Shanghai. The red, silver, and orange tessellated bark would be enough, but coupled with small leaves which hold late into autumn and fall away clean, they can be really beautiful trees. These are seed grown and will show the genetic variation we need in our cities to withstand pests that clonally produced trees are more susceptible to.
