Wishing elms well

I have a love/hate relationship with Chinese elms.

I fight them at my home in Malta where they litter the yard with seedpods, and grow like weeds. At the cabin on Fort Peck Lake, however, three large ones provide shade and privacy, and are often filled with songbirds.

But it doesn’t really matter how I feel about them, the trees appear to be dying.

They didn’t put out any seed this spring and leafed out in an odd manner. Instead of sprouting leaves at the ends of the branches, the leaves came out in thick balls along the trunk and major limbs, looking more like mistletoe than elm leaves.

It’s...