Ginkgo Trees

I love Ginkgo trees, and am always excited to come across them out in nature. Years ago me and the mister visited some friends in Washington DC, and at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History I can remember being totally fascinated by Ginkgo trees. They were planted all over downtown DC, and it was the first time I'd ever noticed them.

Did you know they're prehistoric? According to University of California Museum of Paleontology's Web site, Ginkgo biloba is the only extant species of ginkgos today—and many ginkgo relatives have been found in the fossil record. And thanks to Buddhist monks in China and Japan, who adopted the Ginkgo as a sacred tree and cultivated it in their temple gardens, it has survived for centuries. 

"Ginkgo biloba can grow up to 30 meters tall and can live for a millenium ... Ginkgo biloba is a highly adaptable plant that can grow in almost any temperate or Mediterranean climate. It is also resistant to pollution and pests. These attributes have made the male ginkgos very popular in cities."

The common garden in my neighborhood has a couple of Ginkgo trees, which I always walk over and touch while we're walking our dog—just because I can, and just because it's possible that some Jurassic period dinosaur breathed on the ancestor of our neighborhood tree. And today, while walking around downtown Durham at the American Tobacco Campus, I was thrilled to find a Ginkgo tree next to the waterfalls. 

• Do you have any Ginkgo trees in your yard?