Ginkgo Affair

If it's possible to have a favourite tree mine would be the Ginkgo, or Maidenhair as it's sometimes referred to. Anything that's tenacious enough to survive thousands of years definitely earns my respect. And when I say thousands of years I'm speaking of the individual tree itself not only the species.

Case in point, a 3,000 year old specimen has been reported in Shandong province in China. No wonder it's been referred to as a living fossil. And I haven't even mentioned the brilliant fan shaped leaves which have been depicted over the centuries in fabrics, paintings, pottery, furniture and so on. And speaking of its leaves the Ginkgo's are not only beautiful but are also in their own unique class, from a horticultural stand point that is.

We have one Ginkgo tree on our property that always puts my imagination into overdrive. Now that doesn't mean that I, or anyone, ever owns a Ginkgo but simply put it's on loan for our enjoyment. To think that in one, two or maybe even three thousand years, we, and everything around us, buildings and roads, will be long gone but our Ginkgo could very well be going strong. And I will have been one of the caretakers in it's long life. I consider it an honourable distinction.

My pic today is a shot of the actual leaves of a Ginkgo. Very artsy I might add.