Educate Yourself About the Slippery Elm and Its Visitng Birds
Slippery Elm
Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra) is a moderately fast-growing tree, of moderate height, and has purple colored buds, and is very quaint and pretty looking. Its buds are eaten by many different kinds of birds, but its seeds are a favorite of the American Goldfinch and the Purple Finch. Putting up a beautiful designer glass bird feeder, together with the Slippery Elms pretty purple buds, reflecting in the evening sun, could make wonders for your bird feeding garden.
The Slippery Elm likes full sun, with moist to dry, rich, and well-drained soils. It will grow up to 60ft (18m), and have a spread of around 50ft (15m). An alterative is the Rock Elm (U. thomasii), and it does best in deep, moist soils, but can grow in poor ones too.
