rockm

There many North American native elms that make good to excellent bonsai and can give better results than some of the Asian and/or European species.

American elm and the Florida subspecies (ulmus Americana, and var. floridana) are excellent as bonsai. Slippery elm (ulmus rubra) and winged elm (ulmus alata) are also used, although these can be a little harder to do.

The best native elm species--bar none-- for bonsai in North America is Cedar Elm (ulmus crassifolia) --native to Texas. It is extremely hardy to heat and cold, can be cut back and pruned mercilessly and attains a "bonsai" image pretty quickly. It's available through collectors in Texas and other online sources.