Unusual Ginkgo tree

You may already know, I love Ginkgo trees.  I pretty much have the handful of Ginkgo trees in my town mentally mapped out.  I can count them.

Ginkgo biloba tree with undivided fan leaves

I know that the Ginkgo genus is monotypic, meaning that there is only one species in the genus, Ginkgo biloba.  However, there are a number of cultivars, which are consistent variations from the normal species.  They are not distinct enough to be considered a new species, just some variations on that species.  Some of these are called "sports."  Typical Ginkgo variations include the size of the tree: some sports are grown as small shrubs or bushes, some even weeping.  I have been very interested in growing one of the small shrub types.  I have even seen a Ginkgo bonsai tree, which was wonderful.  Other variations include the leaf shape.  Some have very narrow fan shape leaves; others are curly.  Most of the Ginkgo trees that I see have the same classic look to them.  But there is one here in town that looks different.

Closer view of the small, undivided Ginkgo biloba leaves

This Ginkgo has leaves without the split in them, making the leaves just a perfect little fan shape.  Also, the leaves on this tree are quite small.  For comparison, my 3 foot tall tree has leaves that are 2-3 times larger than the largest leaves on this 15 foot tree.  The leaves are also somewhat curved, especially when they are new and first emerging.

Ginkgo biloba in front of my favorite Thai restaurant

This tree is growing in front of my favorite Thai restaurant.  I will happily go back to visit it - and have a bite to eat while I'm there.   Massaman chicken, here I come!

Plant Find: Ginkgo biloba trees

I have long admired the Ginkgo tree. I can pretty much name every place where I have seen one now - the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens, the Missouri Botanic Gardens and two here in town (one small tree in my neighbor's backyard and one near a park by our house). I have even been inspired by the Ginkgo to paint my first piece of art (maybe - it may or may not look like art once I'm finished).

Even though these trees are well known and well loved, they are really hard to find around here. The only ones I have seen for sale were very expensive at a local nursery. I got some seeds from a friend, but none of them have sprouted for me. Then I came across a real deal on eBay several weeks ago! For $14, I got two saplings between 18" and 24" tall each - shipping included! That's much better than the $150 I would have had to pay for a 6 foot tree here locally!

Leaves just beginning to emerge from the tip of the tree planted in the ground.

So I have two Ginkgos now. What will I do with two of these things? Not sure. For now, one is planted in our backyard near the corner garden. I have put a tomato cage around it to keep the pups from running it over while it is still small. The other is in a pot, where it will remain for the time being. I don't know how long it will be happy in a pot, but I imagine it is doable, considering some people train Ginkgos to be bonsai specimens. My two trees are already too big to be trained as bonsai, but maybe this one will still make a nice container tree. Of the two trees I now have, the one in the pot is growing more quickly than the one in the ground, possibly because it is in partial shade and just quicker to establish.

Ginkgo biloba leaves out and mature. This is actually the tree I potted.

The two plants were sent to me bareroot, wrapped in moist paper towel and had not yet produced any leaves, but they are already starting to pop out now, as you can see in the pictures above. Ginkgo trees have the most amazing leaf shape and really beautiful color in the fall, when they turn solid yellow. I am looking forward to that show every year.

InTREEguing

I know, I know.  My blog post is misspelled.  I started to name this post "Intriguing Trees."  Then I decided I could make it all one word - just for fun.  [Don't try this at a spelling bee.  Spelling Bee judges aren't known for their sense of humor.]

This post is one of those eclectic collections of plant profiles (like My "onion" plants post).  It is a list of trees which I find intriguing, for one reason or another, and a short description of the trees.  Only a couple of these trees have I ever grown before.  And there are only a couple more that I would ever try to grow.  The others won't grow in my region and are not suited to growing in a pot indoors.  I narrowed down the list to my top 6, listed here in no particular order:

Sassafras - I visited the OU (University of Oklahoma) Greenhouses a couple of years ago.  The caretaker, Cal Lemke, showed me a sassafras tree and had me sniff a leaf, not telling me what it was.  The smell was unmistakable.  Though, I admit, at the time I couldn't name what the smell was.  But I knew the smell, nonetheless.  When he said the tree was a Sassafras, I thought "Of course, that smells just like Root Beer!"  The leaves of the Sassafras tree are uniquely tri-lobed.  The tree has small yellow flowers, but is otherwise an ordinary-looking tree.  I just think this tree is really neat because of the smell that is so evidently root beer-ish.  I think I will try to grow this tree at some point.  To top it all off, this tree can be grown in my zone and has wonderful fall foliage color.

Sassafras tree leaves - courtesy flickr member Muffet

Cacao tree - Let's face it: Chocolate is one of the greatest discoveries of mankind.  I can't imagine having a Cacao tree of my own and processing the beans to make my own chocolate.  I imagine it would be quite a task, but the rewards...?  Well worth it!  I might have to try growing a small specimen tree in a greenhouse.  I'm not sure that I would be able to do all of the processing required to make chocolate from the beans, but I could sure try.

Cacao tree at the Foster Botanical Garden - Honolulu, Hawaii

Cork - How many trees do you know of that are harvested for their bark - and then they continue to grow and produce more to harvest?  Just one that I know.

Cork tree - from http://www.marylandcork.com

Rainbow Bark Eucalyptus - If you haven't seen one of these in person, you almost have to assume they aren't real.  I mean, really - rainbow stripes on a tree trunk!?!  Come on - that's ridiculous!

Rainbow bark Eucalyptus trees in Maui, Hawaii

Coconut Palm - This is one of the trees I have tried to grow - "tried" being the most important word.  Twice, in fact.  I've mentioned those failures before on this blog.  The Coconut Palm simply requires more light than I can offer on a year-long basis.  The light requirements are easy to meet in the summer, but the winter is another story.  This tree makes the list (regardless of my difficulty growing it) because of it's initial growth habit.  The tree literally sprouts from a full-sized coconut.  It is a really cool looking oddity of a tree at about 4-6 feet tall and a definite conversation piece - though I wouldn't suggest sitting it on your coffee table.

Coconut palm tree sprouting from the coconut - courtesy flickr member Bemep

Ginkgo tree - I have wanted to grow this tree ever since I saw once in its solid yellow Fall coloring at a local nursery.  I should have just bought it that day.  I guess I didn't because it was about 15 feet tall and I was driving a small car and it was priced more than I could afford.  I also didn't have an adequate space for it.  The tree is gorgeous in the Fall and the leaves have a very unique shape, unlike any other tree that I know.

Ginkgo trees are thought to be one of the oldest tree species still growing.  The species is thought to have existed at least 270 million years, back to the Jurassic period.

Ginkgo biloba leaves in Fall color - courtesy Flickr member Rozanne

Other trees receiving votes:As with the AP Sports voting, I have accumulated a list of other trees that, while not making the list of top six, got some votes.  It's an "honorable mention" sort of award:

• Rubber plant (mine is really more of a plant than a tree).


• Olive tree (though one of my favorites, this tree is too widely known and grown to make the list).


• Baobab tree (probably on anyone else's crazy-cool tree list, but I don't have any desire to grow this one).  There is a really funny segment on the BBC Planet Earth DVDs of the filming of the Baobab trees.


• Banyan trees (Some of my absolute favorite photographs are pictures of the tree roots entangled within and growing over the ruins of Angkor Wat.  There are several famous Banyan Tree groves across the globe, including several I saw recently in Hawaii.  The largest one I have seen takes up a whole city block in Lahaina on the island Maui, Hawaii.).

What would you put on your list of "intriguing trees?"