playing the odds

enormous old elm trees used to line many of the streets of minneapolis and st. paul. in the 1970s and 1980s most of these trees were lost to dutch elm disease. to understand the loss and devastation, image the plane trees of southern france all dying in a single decade, or the cherry trees of japan, or the redwoods of california. watching these monumental trees get taken down one after another, turning majestically shaded boulevards into naked sun-parched streets was heartbreaking. so, eyeing this elm tree loaded with seeds today was a joyful sighting. only approximately 1 in 100,000 american elm trees is dutch elm disease tolerant. so, i don’t know what the odds of this particular tree’s survival are, but looking at the number of seeds it’s putting out, makes he hopeful that one or two may have a chance.

elm branch with ripening samara seeds