If you germinated 600 seeds from a single ginkgo tree, how many would grow up to be male trees and how many female? Some of you may have come up with an answer already, but I am still struggling with the question. Can trees really have a gender? Apparently ginkgo trees, like holly, persimmon, and some others have a gender. Who knew?
In 1929, Dr. Orlando White at the Blandy Experimental Grove of the State Arboretum of Virginia in Boyce, Virginia decided to do an experiment and hypothesized that the sex ratio would be 1:1. Dr. White’s intellectual curiosity resulted in the Blandy Ginkgo Grove that I visited last weekend, one of the largest collections of gingkos outside of the tree’s native China. You can learn more fascinating information about ginkgos and about this grove by downloading this brochure, my source for the historical information about the grove.
I was struck by the beauty of the ginkgo leaves. Fossils of these leaves date back to 270 million years ago, meaning this plant was around with the dinosaurs. A ginkgo, which means “silver apricot” in Chinese, doesn’t form fruits, but has fleshy seeds about the size and appearance of a small apricot, seeds that you can see in some of my photos. I should warn you, though, that ginkgo seeds do not smell as nice as apricots—they smell like a cross between vomit and dog excrement.
I am including a variety of shots to give you an idea of the beauty of the ginkgo, ranging from a view of part of the entire grove down to an image of a single leaf. I have never used the gallery feature with WordPress, but decided to put the photos I selected for this posting into a gallery and see how it works out. Let me know if you have any thoughts about whether you like this approach, vice using single photos.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I found out all about male and female ginkos when I lived for a bit in downtown dc, and the street was lined with ginkos. Lovely to look at, especially in the fall. But goodness, the odor. Lol.
That’s interesting. I’ve never seen ginkos that old, and have never heard of the odor. We have single trees scattered widely around the area so they probably don’t produce fruit.
Great – such an interesting article and lovely im ages to go with it
Thanks. I didn’t know much about gingko trees until a friend invited me to photograph them. I picked up a brochure when I was there and was completely fascinated by them.
I learned about the stinky ginkos on a tree walk (yes, there is such a thing as a tree walk). I knew some trees were male or female, like my Cottonwood, but I had never encountered a female ginko before.
I haven’t used the new gallery yet but I like the effect.
A tree walk? It sounds like a great idea if you are with a knowledgeable guide.
It was fascinating. I learned more than I ever knew to ask about trees.Our guide was the Head Forester who has over 20 years experience. I’m planning on going again this year and hoping for good photo weather.
Beautiful photos of a unique and interesting tree. The gallery is a great way to display multiple photos like that.
Thanks for providing your thoughts on the gallery format. Most of the feedback has been positive. I’m glad you enjoyed the posting. It was a bit different for me to take landscape type shots and forced me to see differently.
Wonderful light in your photos 🙂
Thanks. It was a beautiful, sunny autumn day when I took those shots.
Interesting post Mike but I won’t be sniffing Ginkgo trees any time soon! I’ve just recently started using the gallery/slideshow thing myself and I think it maintains interest better than an endless series of single photos 😀
Thanks. I’m always looking for new ways to display the photos and the gallery is one way for folks to know that there are multiple photos in the posting.
I like the gallery format! We used to have a female gingko in the neighborhood of my childhood. We didn’t know its official name, but all of us kids called it “the stink-bomb tree.” Vomit and dog excrement, yep, you pretty much captured the essence of that odor right there.
Thanks for your feedback on the gallery format and for sharing your personal memories of ginkgo trees and their seeds.
I have been told that the commercial trees you buy are male. We have a growing Ginkgo tree too young to fruit so I hope the growers got it right!
Eventually you’ll learn if they were right. 🙂
The gallery is a great idea, especially since you can view the photos individually by clicking on one to go to the slide show feature.
Thanks for the feedback, Sue. I’ll probably use the gallery feature from time to time when I have a grouping of shots on a particular theme. As you know, my posts tend to range from a single shot to as many as six images.
[…] trees are endlessly fascinating for me. Check out my earlier posting to see additional photos of my journey to a ginkgo grove a few weeks ago, including some close-up […]
[…] more information about the ginkgo grove, check out my blog posting from 2013 entitled “Journey to a ginkgo grove” or this brochure on the ginkgo grove put out by the Blandy Experimental Farm. In the […]