The tree was released to wholesale nurseries without patent restrictions by the U. S. National Arboretum in 1995 after proving to have a high resistance to Dutch elm disease.

'Valley Forge' proved only moderately successful in the US National Elm Trial, averaging a survival rate of 66.7% overall, owing largely to environmental factors rather than susceptibility to disease.

In an assessment at U C Davis as part of the National Elm Trial, the tree initially grew comparatively slowly, increasing in height by 0.85 m per annum, although stem development at 2.6 cm d.b.h.

which produce honeydew[2] The cultivar is only moderately preferred for feeding by the Japanese Beetle Popillia japonica,[4] but the species as a whole is the most susceptible of all the elms to verticillium wilt.

[6] All examples included in 10-year trials at Atherton, California, to evaluate replacements for Californian elms lost to disease were withdrawn after a combination of rapid growth and poor structure condemned the trees as "likely to require more maintenance than most municipalities would find acceptable".