Last week I realized that one of the trees standing at the bottom of the yard, the one that’s turning bright yellow against the red of the Virginia Creeper on the fence, is a ginkgo tree. The leaf is distinctive:
Lois Hole’s Favorite Trees and Shrubs has this to say: “Ginkgo is the most amazing tree. It is the sole surviving species of a prehistoric tree that grew in swamps over 150 million years ago, when dinosaurs still walked the earth. The species nearly became extinct, but about 300 years ago, a single ginkgo tree was discovered growing in the garden of a Japanese temple. By 1730 ginkgo had been reintroduced to Europe, and by 1784, to North America.”
What’s good to know is that this tree is a “feature tree in large yards, on acreages, in parks” because it grows 50-80 feet tall and 30-40 feet wide, though in gardens you can expect it to grow about half that height and width. Too, too big for this yard.
Still, it’s a slow-grower with a long lifespan. Maybe it will be here long after the house is gone. Maybe it is another solitary ginkgo tree that will be discovered growing in a garden in centuries to come, one that will save the others.
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