I have moved into a house that has two fairly big elm trees, one in the front yard, and one in the back yard. They SEEM to be the same kind of elm but I don't know that for sure. The leaves are too small to be American Elm, and too big to be Cedar Elm, so I think that means they must be either Siberian Elms or Lacebark Elms. The one in front yard is in bad shape. It has some weird bark peeling near the base and is not leaving out very much. I will remove that one for sure soon - I have planted a Shumard Red Oak that will sort of replace it but I plan to let it get established a little before removing the elm. The one in the back yard seems to be OK for now. If I was sure that it was a Siberian Elm I would probably go ahead and have that removed whenever I have the one in front removed, but if it's a Lacebark Elm then I want to keep it. The bark on the tree in back doesn't quite look like the bark in the front - the front yard tree has a lighter bark. But the tree in back has shallow roots, and little Elms pop up between mowings. This makes me think it probably is a Siberian Elm. Does anybody know if Lacebark Elms have shallow roots? Anybody have suggestions for how to distinguish between the two?
Here are some pictures:
Here's a couple of shots of the one in the back yard that is doing OK.
And here are some shots of the one in front that is in terrible shape: