Camperdown Elms and A Giveaway

Camperdown Elm with sticky leaf foliage

Camperdown Elm trees are mutants. 

Unable to reproduce, they have to be grown on stock such as Scottish Elm. Very slow growing, but hardy enough to endure cold winters. Not as tall as a regular elm, the branches hold many knobs and knots for a foothold, a great place for a child to play.

When the deciduous foliage drops its sticky leaves, all sorts of mangled and tangled branch formations are exposed. Some call it an upside-down tree.

The first mutant Camperdown Elm...

...was discovered on the Camperdown Estate in Dundee, Scotland, in the late 1830s. The

Camperdown Estate
Dundee, Scotland

Dutch name is the English version of Kamperduin, a village in North Holland. The Dundee Camperdown Estate’s original owner Adam Duncan defeated a Dutch fleet near there in the Battle of Camperdown. Thus the name for his place and the region. And eventually the strange elm.

The story goes that a gardener found the first sprawling root and instead of digging it up, let it grow. Every Camperdown Elm tree in the world has been grafted from that original one.

I became fascinated with these trees because of the ones grafted at the University of Idaho campus, about an hour from where I live.  Their umbrella shape breadth and medium sized height when leafed out make them wonderful hiding places for children. And lovers.

In the winter, their striking gnarled limbs look more like woody roots spread out than branches.  At last

Camperdown Elm gnarled limbs

count, about a hundred or so exist in the United States.
~~~~~~~~~
In my new novel just released this past week, a Camperdown Elm grows in the small town of Road’s End, Idaho. One of the characters, Cole Cahill, brought a cutting from his hometown of Dundee, Scotland.

An upside-down tree,” he called it, and always with a curse.  “Things are not what they seem,” he often chided. At other times, he admonished his granddaughter Reba when things went wrong, “Get used to it, girl.  Life’s topsy turvy and pulled inside out, just when you least expect it."

Camperdown Elm twisted limbs

He proved it by dying of a sudden heart attack beside an axe imbedded in the tree’s trunk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Questions for Giveaway...

Have you ever heard of a Camperdown Elm? Ever seen one?
What is the most special tree to you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Janet with her three sons:
From left: Aaron, Michael, Russell

Janet Chester Bly has written and co-written thirty-two books with her late husband, award-winning western author Stephen Bly. She and her three sons completed Stephen’s last novel for him, Stuart Brannon’s Final Shot. Read about the story here: http://www.blybooks.com/category/finishing-dads-novel/.

Wind in the Wires
A Trails of Reba Cahill Novel
Janet Chester Bly

Newly released Wind in the Wires, Book 1, Trails of Reba Cahill, is her first solo adult novel. It’s a contemporary western mystery. It’s a road adventure with a touch of romance. It’s Cowgirl Lit. One of the commenters on this post will receive a free paperback (U.S. or Canada only) or PDF copy. Paperback & eBook: http://amzn.to/1tnpHpr
More info: http://www.BlyBooks.com/blog/