COUNTRY LIFE
Restoring elms to Island park
Gift to Nature is responsible for a variety of conservation sites
around the Island, it is their mission to not only care for the
Island’s wildlife but encourage everyone to get out and explore
our fantastic countryside.
Dutch Elm disease
D
utch elm disease decimated the
native British elm population in
the late part of the 20th century,
removing distinctive mature trees from
our landscape. Elm trees are important
for the wildlife they support, but remain
vulnerable to the disease, so the key is
to identify and grow cultivars that have a
resistance.
Over the years Island 2000 and Natural
Enterprise have played a key role in
bringing over to the Island a large number
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of disease-resistant elm cultivars, and this
year have been introducing a new variety
to Pan Country Pa rk where they have been
creating an elm arboretum.
‘Sans zanobi’ is a disease-resistant elm
sourced from Italy by Andrew Brookes of
Butterfly Conservation. It has been widely
planted across Italy, mostly in towns
and cities, notably Rome in and around
the Villa Medici. Introduced to the UK
in 2003, it is being evaluated at several
sites in Hampshire, where it has proven
Sans Zanobi Elm
fast growing. The cultivar is named after
Saint Zenobius, a Saint noted for many
miracles. After his death in AD 417,
his body, while being carried from the
cathedral for burial, is supposed to have
glanced a dead elm, restoring the tree
to life.
For more information please
contact: Natural Enterprise, tel: 01983
201565, email: tracy.underwood@
naturalenterprise.co.uk or visit www.
naturalenterprise.co.uk