The female Ginkgo trees around town are few. Now is the time to gather the seeds though. The mother of my two Ginkgo trees was cut down. Today I went to a tree (one of two in town of which I know) to look for seeds. I drove there and parking wasn't available so I circled the block and found one more female producing a large quantity of seed! Parking was easy at this new tree, so I grabbed my bag and picked up some seeds with their mildly stinky coating intact. Later I put on surgical gloves to clean them and now have a nice selection of Ginkgo seed. I'll plant them soon and hope for good germination.
International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists the Ginkgo as endangered. Probably since not many trees exist in the wild outside of China and it is often recommended to plant male grafts since they do not fruit. Growing from seed creates diversity within the species and only females produce seed.
Apparently it takes about 20 years to determine the gender of a Ginkgo so when street trees start to make seeds they get cut down and replaced.
I have approximately 70 seeds now.
1 comment:
mildly stinky? my experience with the ginkgo seed pods is relegated to a pure poo type of smell. and when they're smooshed by foot traffic and cars- dear God im Himmel! Unbearable! God bless you in all of your dirty endeavors.
Post a Comment