Another impulse purchase

I never thought I would plant an Elm in my yard. But this followed me home..
Ulmus parvifolia 'Lois Hole' is a shrubby variegated Lacebark (Chinese) Elm. I was intrigued by the tiny leaves, which have almost microscopic white edges.
The label says it is slow growing to 15 feet tall (we'll see).
I can find almost no info on this on the www, and none at all in DG.
Do any of you know anything about it? Do you think I should stake it? It sort of has a leader, but it is not growing straight up. How about limbing it up?
i think it is grown from a cutting. The bend in the trunk at first looked like a graft union, but there are identical leaves growing from branches below that level.
This is my first variegated tree (I must be regressing.)

I have Lois in a pot - for about 5 yrs now. Mine is truly tiny in comparison with yours. Part of the reason is because I'm terrible at growing things in pots. Like forgetting to water them, rarely repotting them, etc. But I'm still quite surprised to see how big & leafy & vigorous your plant is.

Which reminds me of an amusing story. There is a similar 'dwarf' cultivar of u. parviflora called 'Frosty'. It has typical small leaves outlined in the faintest white band of variegation.
Sounding familiar? I had it in a pot on my driveway so the little guy wouldn't get lost in my wooded garden. Anyway, a few years later, my wife & I were exploring the Raulston Arboretum (at that time, the NC State Arboretum) and I ran headlong into a huge Frosty. I really mean huge - trunk diameter must have been at least 4ft and a gazillion feet tall. So much for being a dwarf! So Frosty got unceremoniously kicked off the driveway and is now about 6ft tall planted out. The cute white leaf outline is of course lost as the tree gets bigger, so I got Lois Hole on the report that this one will stay miniature. Mine has so far stayed true to form - both little & very cute; but then you show me your behemoth. Makes me wonder about another 'Frosty' situation...


This message was edited Jun 26, 2014 5:20 AM

That sure looks like something that would follow me home too MLM! Regressing? Me thinks not, but the reverse is more likely. If that baby were mine, I would try and straighten with some gentle persuasion and I wouldn't be inclined to limb it up just yet. It might look better with a skirt. Perhaps I'd re-evaluate the form in a couple of years.

Thanks for trial and error experience Wee, good story.

Thanks Weerobin and Mipii. I just knew DGers would be able to help. The 'Frosty' story (one reference says "Lois Hole' came from 'Frosty') makes me think my skepticism about height is well founded. I don't have a place for something a gazillion feet tall. I will place it as if it will stay a large shrub, and just see what happens.

BTW, when I looked up the name, I found the real Lois Hole was a farmer, greenhouse grower, Mom, then Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. The name was familiar to me because she wrote gardening books in her spare time. Kinda makes me feel like an underachiever.

Here is a close up of the leaves, somehow the photo did not load before.

Thanks for the close-ups, those leaves are beautiful...

These little elms are notorious for finding a way to attach themselves to unsuspecting gardeners. Your experience is exactly how U. p. 'Seiju' made its way to my place. Like a cute little puppy, they're just so hard to resist.