Elm trees return to Oxford's streets
The University Parks team recently planted 12 young trees along the northern side of South Parks Road – including a handful of elms that are being re-introduced to an area they once thrived in. These will gradually fill the gaps that have opened up in the roadside canopy of lime trees as older specimens have died or had to be removed, keeping area pleasantly shady in summer while also enlivening it with new species.
The latest additions are five silver-leaved limes (Tilia tormentosa ‘Brabant’), five disease-resistant elms (Ulmus ‘Rebona’) and two wild service trees (Sorbus torminalis). Before planting the young trees, the team de-compacted the soil and added organic matter and biochar to help their roots access more water and nutrients. A thick layer of mulch will retain moisture and suppress weeds while they get established.
The project took almost a year to plan, with detailed research needed into the area’s complex network of underground services to make sure no buried cables or pipes were accidentally damaged. It means the Parks Arboriculture team have now planted 25 trees around Oxford since the start of 2025, and brings their total for the last three years to 70.
The mix of new trees was carefully chosen. The white-leaved limes provide continuity with South Parks Road’s existing street trees while also adding more variety. Meanwhile the elms represent the species’ long-awaited return to the area.
Elms were once important street trees in Oxford before being wiped out by Dutch elm disease in the mid-20th century. Magnificent specimens lined nearby Parks Road, until they had to be removed and replaced with the London planes still seen there today. Another 136 elms were recorded in the Parks alone in 1936, all gone now, and there were many more around the University – Magdalen College’s annual play used to take part in a now-lost elm circle in the deer park.
Sam Prior, Arboricultural Manager in the Parks team, decided that this history meant elms should return to Oxford’s urban landscape now that disease-resistant varieties are widely available. He was also inspired by learning about the Unit for Invertebrate Virology at 5 South Parks Road, which did important research on the disease in the 1970s and 1980s in search of possible ways to control the bark-boring beetles that spread it. (If you would like to find out more about Dutch elm disease’s impact on the city, you can find information on display at the University’s Harcourt Arboretum.)
The wild service tree is an interesting and uncommon native British species. Known as the ‘chequers tree’, perhaps because the squarish patterns in its bark resemble a draughts board, it is associated with pubs and beer, to which its fruit used to be added for flavour. ‘Service’ comes from the same Latin root as ‘cerveza’ (Spanish for beer) and its nickname is connected to the pub name ‘The Chequers’ (as seen just off Oxford High Street). There is a mature specimen in the Parks near the Tolkien memorial bench on the riverside; it bears beautiful white flowers in early summer and provides food and habitat for a wild range of wildlife.
