Great Design Plant: Ginkgo Biloba
If you believe “stinky berries” once you hear the term “ginkgo,” please keep reading so I can try to modify your preconceived ideas about this beautiful tree. It is accurate — fertilized female ginkgo trees of a certain era will sprout fruit that, quite frankly, smells just like a trash dump. However, you can avoid this entirely by ensuring you plant a male tree.
Think about the fact that this historical tree was around during the time of the dinosaurs, which Buddhist monks have revered and planted ginkgos in contemplative temple gardens for thousands of years. Let those details marinate and boost your appreciation. Then find out more about this unique tree beneath and replace your thoughts of foul female berries with those of gold fan-shaped leaves.
The New York Botanical Garden
Botanical name: Ginkgo biloba
Shared title: Ginkgo tree, Maidenhair tree
USDA zones: 3 to 2 (find your zone)
Water condition: Soil ought to be well-drained.
Light demand: Full sun to partial shade. Full sun is suggested for the best.
Mature size: At the largest cases, over 100 feet tall and 60 feet broad; though more commonly anticipate around 70 feet tall and 30 feet wide.
Benefits and tolerances: Infection, pest and urban-pollution free. This really is a long-living tree you must plant with the notion of leaving a legacy behind.
Seasonal interest: The leaves turn to a beautiful golden yellow in the autumn. They fall off nearly creating a golden carpet on the floor beneath the back. Keep the leaf-blower tucked off and love it.
When to plant: Spring or fall
Ginkgo Leaf Studio
Distinguishing traits. The green leaves are a delicate fan shape that’s so pretty and distinguishable it is frequently rendered in decor, whether on a cushion, wallpaper print, bronze or tile sculpture.
While the full-grown ginkgo has a lovely shape, youthful specimens go through an awkward and gangly adolescence, using odd branching patterns along with a rate of slow development. Following a couple of years, they begin to fill out and grow at a moderate rate.
The sensational golden yellow fall color is motive enough to plant this tree.
Ziger/Snead Architects
The best way to use it. The ginkgois a distinguished speciman tree that stands out in a landscape. While it’s a magnificent tree to plant independently, it’s also wonderful in a grove or in a courtyard, and because of its tolerances, it creates a fantastic urban street tree.
The tree also has become a symbol of longevity, endurance and hope; those meanings are factors to consider when planting it.
WA Design Architects
Here the early tree looks sculptural, its irregular form contrasting with the straight lines of the contemporary architecture surrounding it.
Ginkgo Leaf Studio
Planting notes:
• Dig a hole about 5 inches larger than the root ball on either side.
• Ginkgos like sandy loam, so if your soil is not sandy loam, spread sand on the bottom of your hole.
• Place the rootball in the hole and fill out the sides with sand.
• Keep turf a few feet away from the trunk.
• Water your tree, but be careful not to overwater.
• Ginkgo tree growth could be erratic, so don’t worry if it hasn’t grown, provided that it seems healthy.
The New York Botanical Garden
Fun facts. Google “ginkgo biloba” and you will get a ton of medicinal info. The plant was used to deal with a assortment of ailments for thousands of years. In Eastern medicine these include asthma, indigestion and bronchitis.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the plant has proved effective for treatment of “intermittent claudication Alzheimer’smulti-infarct dementia and cerebral insufficiency.” It also has been researched as a remedy for suffering from altitude sickness to PMS. You’ve probably heard of it most recently as a memory aid; scientists are still analyzing the efficacy of this use.