Ginkgo fall color

Don't take this the wrong way. This is a very nice ginkgo. What I'm asking is why do people like these so much? I think they are always the most untree like bonsai I have ever seen. Please again no insult I just want to know the reason people like them so much. I have always wanted the answer, but in an a-temp to not insult never asked.
 
Don't take this the wrong way. This is a very nice ginkgo. What I'm asking is why do people like these so much? I think they are always the most untree like bonsai I have ever seen. Please again no insult I just want to know the reason people like them so much. I have always wanted the answer, but in an a-temp to not insult never asked.

Very nice tree Brian, great color. I haven't had good color on my trees this year and I'm kind of bummed about it.

Jeremy I do actually agree with your sentiments. Gingko's aren't my thing either, but I would assume that Brian's picture illustrates why people like them. Great fall color, and nice bark. The branching is always awkward though.
 
Brian has tons of great trees that's why I finally got the courage to ask him. Like I said no insult just wanted to know why people like them. I could pot up tons of different plants and they would have fall color. Sorry last post about his. I just don't understand the affection for ginkgo. And I realize I'm missing something because they are popular in bonsai.
 
Don't take this the wrong way. This is a very nice ginkgo. What I'm asking is why do people like these so much? I think they are always the most untree like bonsai I have ever seen. Please again no insult I just want to know the reason people like them so much. I have always wanted the answer, but in an a-temp to not insult never asked.

I tend to agree, why don't they behave the same in pots as they do in the ground? They seem to readily sucker in pots, and in the ground, remain immature looking and awkward for about 30 years. I go back and forth on them, and finally realized that they're basically just stockier in pots than in the ground, as mature trees. Here is an example of a mature tree. Compare it with the idealized "flame" style ginkgo bonsai.

The ginkgo in the OP isn't mine, it belongs to the Alabama Bonsai Society, but it came off display and to my garden for a little extra TLC last month. I haven't done anything to it, but as ginkgo bonsai go, it's a decent example, I've been told Ben Oki called it one of the finest ginkgo bonsai in the US. I don't see it either, but that was easily 15 years ago. Back then, maybe it was.
 
Another note, back when I was in college at Iowa State, I collected a bunch of ginkgo seeds (actually, the fruit that smells like puke) and germinated 7 of 11. 3 are still in the ground at my buddy's house in IA, 1 is in the ground here. The other 3 died somewhere along the many moves over the last 15 years.

The ones in Iowa are getting big, and I'll be bringing one home next year. Again, it's got that flame shape, and it has been simply trunk-chopped every couple years. They've got 4" trunks now, and aren't much more than 20" tall. The one at my house has been in and out of the ground several times. Is not more than 1.5" in diameter. It will be interesting to do a side-by-side when they're reunited.

Here is a photo of the lawn on campus at ISU taken in the 1950s, and those ginkgoes my seeds came from are in the foreground. I'll have to find another more recent photo. The grove is very impressive.
 

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If I posted any tree with the structure of a ginkgo I would hope everyone would laugh. That's my point. Is there some kind of ancient spiritual thing about the tree. Imagine if someone posted a photo of a trident that looked lie this? And once again no disrespect. I just don't get why this was not disregarded as a tree not to use as bonsai, but regarded as such a great one.
 
You're right and I get what you're saying, but this is what ginkgoes do in pots...it may not blow your skirt up.

If someone showed a trident in the "ginkgo style", I suspect it would be about as accepted as a nerifolia served up in the "pine tree style".
 
And once again no disrespect I just wanted to know if others thought the same. As always I appreciate what you do for others. People often ask "will this plant work as a bonsai". I guess the answer should be yes have you ever seen a ginkgo?
 
I just thought that their must be some old school spiritual thing about ginkos
 
And once again no disrespect I just wanted to know if others thought the same. As always I appreciate what you do for others. People often ask "will this plant work as a bonsai". I guess the answer should be yes have you ever seen a ginkgo?


I like brian's answer. Plant people are weird to begin with. And Ginkos are very cool trees all around. They are slow, (at least here in the central valley, CA,) but anyone who has ever stood under a mature ginko in the fall and felt like they were in the middle of a golden whirl-pool would know why. Maybe we try and keep certian less desirable bonsai specimens for subjective reasons? My buckeyes and dawn redwoods are another example there.
 
I highly reccomend that all arbor-philes acquire and read The Origin and Cultivation of Shade and Ornamental Trees by Hui-Lin-Li (1963). He devotes an entire chapter to Gingko and the story of this tree is very captivating. It was thought to be extinct in the wild, but some native stands were located in remote areas of China.
When I attended Ohio State, I dug up some seedlings from a planting next to the Ag. Library and planted one in my mother's garden and gave the other to a friend. I'm not sure how either are doing, assuming they are still alive. I still frequently visit the campus, but the grounds crew have apparently become more efficient at cleaning up the landscaping because I haven't seen a seedling there in about 10 years. :mad:
I worked at a very old, high-end nursery that had a mammoth gingko which shaded part of the sales yard; it was about 36" diameter at about 5 feet from the ground and had a lovely, spreading crown from a whorl of limbs several feet up. Occasionally visitors would come just to look at the tree. The owner of the nursery was a friend of Dr. Chadwick, a hort professor from O.S.U. and I believe he must have mentioned this tree to his colleagues and friends. Unfortunately, the nursery closed down in 1992 and everything was leveled to make room for a self-storage facility.
It is a tree with a mythical aura and always inspires wonder and curiosity to many (except self-storage developers) and I think that is why many enthusiasts consider it to be a candidate for bonsai.
 
They are, like broccoli and asparagus, an aquired taste...I used to think they were kinda ugly and ungainly, until you start to notice stuff...like their fall color, their bark, leaves and their natural history (they're a particularly ancient breed). The species is also one of the first cultivated by humans and in some very harsh places
http://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/hiroshima.htm

The leaves are of particular interest, to me anyway. They're called "fan shaped," but that's in the west. In Japan the leaf and stem look like a crane in flight...the stem being the head and neck.
 
Well, mine is just a fun little tree, I like that it's kinda crazy looking. This is a pic from last year, it's already lost leaves this year, but it did get 3 new branches this season.
 

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This is my Gingko Mariken. This is a witches broom cultivar that was developed in Holland in the early 90s. It tends to grow low and horizontal, though I have seen columnar ones, more like a poplar. I took this picture before the colors had completely changed, sort of in-between phase. This is a fun tree.
 

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Very nice Ginkos everyone! I love their yellow fall color and yes!... even their winter silhouette. I am a bit jealous since I don't have one :(
 
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