I ordered by mail a 'Liberty' Elm in 2002 for the narrow part of the yard west of my house in southeast Pennsylvania. I found out that a water channel went under ground there and I could not plant it there. I already had planted larger trees for my new yard, so I planted it at a close friend's house east of Reading, PA in 2003. It was looking good, but I failed to notice that the side branches were weighing the tree down. In 2015 I got a call from my friend that the tree trunk had split. About the same time, the electric utility company said that a large tree species could not be planted there as it would someday interfere with work on the high overhead wires going over that backyard. I had my friend let the tree go and have the company cut it down in 2016 because the damage was too great. I saw a Lacebark Elm at a post office do the same thing in my town about the same time. Anyway, this 'Liberty' cultivar is not being produced anymore, as its resistance to the Dutch Elm Disease is only moderate, and it is very susceptible to Elm Phloem Necrosis, a virus yellows disease also from east Asia.

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