Water Elm
This will be the first of many articles and studies on water elm, Planera aquatica, for bonsai featured on this blog. I have been told that there isn’t a lot of information about them online when it pertains to bonsai practices. At Underhill Bonsai, we sell a lot of water elm as we have a good mother plant and a high success rate on propagating them. As we have put more and more of them out into the market and out into the world of North American bonsai, I’ve been receiving email after email asking various questions about them.
How often do I water my water elm? What zone are they suited for? Do they grow similarly to other elm species? How do I style my water elm?
To be honest, the question I get the most is, ‘where do I look online for care and development of water elms as bonsai?’. Well, I’ve decided to start here then and I will be writing as many articles as I can about my ongoing projects with the species. I’ve run a lot of different trials on them for developmental techniques and found out a lot in the past 5 years leading up to this first entry.
Pictured above: Broom style water elm in an oval Byron Myrick pot, 2024.
Let’s start with the basics about the species:
Water Elm, Latin nomenclature is Planera aquatica. They were once assumed to be within the Ulmaceae family, it has been found that they are in their own genius but still have several traits like elms. To start, they have serrated leaves like that of select elm species but have a smoother top surface to their leaves. The tops of the leaves are slightly glossy and do not have a “cat tongue” feel like many other American elms have. Water elms grow with alternating bud patterns that can vary in distance. With proper pruning, the distance between nodes can be decreased which is great for bonsai as well. Their trunks are similar and smooth but also exfoliate as they mature causing the trunks to have a patchwork look.
Their range is mostly in the southeast United States and can be seen as far up the East coast into the Carolinas. Water elms can be spotted growing along freshwater rivers, creeks, lakes, and ponds. They tend to share environments where inland bald cypress, Taxodium distichum, thrive as well as water oak, swamp red maple, and tupelo gum. Depending on their location their growth habits seem to vary. Sometimes they grow into bush tree shapes with multiple trunks splitting into numerous twiggy branches and other times they can be found as understory trees with a single long wandering trunk with a fanned out top. This shows how versatile the species is and how they adapt as the wooded areas around them change though the seasons of the year change or the impact of removal of forest around them.
Their name isn’t ironic because water elms can be found growing in water like bald cypress. Water elms go through major changes in environment like what bald cypresses with bank erosion experience. Eventually, the circumstances will lead to them growing in standing water. Their seeds can sow on a bank near a reliable water source such a lake or stream and with time as the water rises and changes the channel of the flow of water, the water elms can eventually end up in the current. There are also cases where water elms will sow directly into a few inches of water, just depending on the situation.
Water elms are classified as OBL, Obligate wetland plants, in their environment. Meaning if you are in a wetlands area in their zone, there’s a high probability they will be there. They are hardly done to zone 7 and are part of the Gulf Coastal Plain.
So, all that information about them is nice to know but what does this mean for bonsai practice with them? What makes them more suitable for bonsai practice? Are they better then other North American elms?
Elms that we grow at Underhill Bonsai:
-Winged Elm, Ulmus alata
-Ceder Elm, Ulmus crassifolia
-American Elm, Ulmus americana
-Chinese Elm, Ulmus parvifolia, and it’s varieties
Trees similar or in the Ulmaceae family:
-American hornbeam, Carpinus caroliniana
-Sugarberry (Southern hackberry), Celtis laevigata
These are all great trees for bonsai practice but what is significant about the water elm that sets them apart?
Let’s start from the beginning, at least from where we can assume water elms entered the bonsai world. Vaughn Banting may be responsible for creating some of the first water elm bonsai masterpieces. He had already proven that he could master bald cypress and even create his own styling for the species. His flattop style bald cypress would go on to be on perpetual display coast to coast, at both the National Bonsai Museum as well as the Pacific Bonsai Museum. But were you aware that he also donated a water elm bonsai to the National Museum as well? His bald cypress, swamp maple forest, and sweetgum bonsai are so well known but the water elm was overlooked and almost lost to bonsai history. Fortunately, one of his best students, Randy Bennett, has provided me with information and pictures of Banting’s early works with water elms.
A lot of the articles Banting had published online have been taken down or lost in some way. There are plenty of articles of Banting’s that show up in bonsai magazine publications as well, but they are not categorized in a way to locate them properly. Randy and I will be sharing these publications and other works related to Banting’s work with water elm as bonsai we start the history of water elm in bonsai here.
We must look to the ones that came before us and honor their work. We look to progress their work and build upon what they have provided. What they learned in their time, what worked and what didn’t work. Time is the best teacher in bonsai and the ones before us have already laid the foundation for great future works in bonsai.
Pictured above: Vaughn Banting with his water elm that was donated to the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection in Washington DC.
Like said before, this is just the first of many articles to come about water elm for bonsai, Vaughn Banting’s work with them, and the future of what Randy and I are developing with the species. Stay tuned for more to come!
-Evan