FAMILY | GINKGOACEAE

Gymnosperm: FAMILY | GINKGOACEAE

Ginkgo Leaf

Grassroots Horticulture

2021

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Look to Ginkgo Trees for Autumn Color

Gymnosperm: FAMILY | GINKGOACEAE

Lemon Yellow Ginkgo Leaves and a Vermilion Sweet Gum Leaf

If you haven't had a chance to enjoy the changing colors of the season look for this tree as you venture out and about. I am updating this posting from last year in case someone missed my enthusiastic passion. My favorite tree, ginkgo, is a tree frequently unnoticed until it drops its leaves. What an unusual shape for a leaf and it is such a beautiful and brilliant yellow shade in the autumn!  It's leaf is fan-shaped or "duck-feet" shaped. The fruit is produced only by the female tree. 

GINKGO BILOBA

FEMALE TREE WITH FRUIT
FAN-SHAPED LEAVES
Zone 7

Rarely, a ginkgo tree with fruit is found. I was happy to capture these photographs of a female tree with ripe fruit at the Dallas Arboretum. The Arboretum is a great place to see a broad spectrum and diversity of trees.

             GINKGO BILOBA TREE Topiary           

Entrance to The Japanese Gardens
Fort Worth Botanical Gardens
Zone 7

Ginkgo Biloba

ADDISONIA, VOL. 11: T. 362 NYBG 1926

MARY EMILY EATON (1873-1961
SOURCE:PLANT ILLUSTRATION

MAIDENHAIR TREE

GINKGO BILOBA

Arborists prefer to plant male trees due to the cheesy scent of the fruit produced on the female tree.  The tree above was planted over forty years ago. It is slow growing in hardiness zone 5 where this tree is placed. The soil was like cement when I planted it but it has survived, amazingly.

Two traits appreciated by ginkgo lovers are the golden fall color and in just 1-2 days the leaves fall to the ground making cleanup quick and easy.

Ginkgo is believed to originate in China. A 1,400 year old ginkgo can be found in the Zhongnan Mountains in China. Ginkgo trees evolved before the dinosaurs, survived three mass extinctions, and one species is still living today. The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History is researching how the cells of leaves on ginkgos have changed over time, and whether they can use them to learn about the ancient atmosphere of the Earth. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2017/06/08/can-you-help-us-clear-fossil-air/ Update 2019:

2021 Hyden Photography

for

Grassroots Horticulture

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The Arboretum

Desert-Willow Tree (Chilopsis linearis)
Texas Native

The Chihuly Glass Exhibit was awesome and I will share those photographs in the next post. As we walked around the Exhibit the very helpful docents would ask as I photographed the "flowers" whether I needed help. 

The plant combinations that the horticulturists selected were worth  the trip. The deep purples, especially in the evening, created negative spaces and added textures that gave the garden beds depth and dramatic interest.

Purple Elephant Ears, Coleus, Gomphrena

Purple Elephant Ear
Gomphrena

A row of weeping blue cedar and variegated liriope line the entrance.

Weeping Blue Cedar
Variegated Liriope

 Amidst the Shade

Caladium

Silver and Blue:  Blue Marlins and the Silver Trunk of Crape Myrtle

Shade Loving Plants (Mahonia) Turquoise Reeds.

Coleus and Purple Leaf Sweet Potato

American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) Texas Native

 The Tapioca Plant 'Variegata' (Manihot esculenta)

As you see the sun setting the tree trunks absorb and reflect the soft rays.  The Tapioca Plant 'Variegata' (Manihot esculenta) is perfectly situated to delight the eyes and pull your attention to the yellow reeds sitting at their base. Green carpet then dark purple delineates the border or edge to frame the bed. Manihot esculenta is considered a native of Brazil and Paraguay and has been cultivated and hybridized as a food plant but this variegated plant ads serpentine lines in the mass plantings.

Yellow Reeds, Chihuly Glass Exhibit
The Tapioca Plant 'Variegata' (Manihot esculenta) 

Yellow Reeds Chihuly Glass Exhibit
The Tapioca Plant 'Variegata' (Manihot esculenta)

Honey scented Blackfoot Daisy
Texas Native

A Few Xeriscape Plants

Berberis trifoliolata 'Agarita'

The Vitex foliage and flowers are a beautiful shade of green and blue

Little Round Leaf Vitex

Monk's Pepper (Vitex agnus-castus)
Native to the Mediterranean Region 

Desert- Willow Tree (Chilopsis linearis)

Texas Native

Anole

Ginkgo Biloba Tree
Female Tree with Fruit
 Fan or Duck-Feet Shaped Leaf

Gomphrena and Canna

Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
Native to the West Indies and Tropical America 

Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
Native to the West Indies and Tropical America

Walk down the path that curves.
                               Ethereal Spider Lily in the moonlight.

Crape Myrtles with the Beluga Glass.

What an enjoyable evening. I hope you enjoyed the photos.

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©  2020 Hyden Photography for

eGrassroots Horticulture e

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Dinosauric Fun

One of our child's best birthday excursions was going to Dinosaur State Park with our kids and some friends. They ran, swung, skipped stones and looked for dinosaur footprints in the limestone ledges along and underneath the river.

I think of prehistoric plants and animals as unique and unusual.

Dinosauric Fun

Dinosaur State Park, Glen Rose Another great Texas resource to explore Dinosauric Fun is in Austin. Hartman Prehistoric Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden

Prehistoric Plants include Gymmnosperms

Ginkgo

Maidenhair Tree 
(Ginkgo Biloba)

Leaf, Ginkgo Biloba Tree 
Shaped like fan or "duck-foot" 
Fall leaf color is yellow

Ginkgo Biloba Fruit