Ginkgos From Seed

Years ago, when Arlo was living in Raleigh, attending NC State, I stopped by with a plastic bucket, and we harvested ginkgo seeds from a giant "splat" we found downtown.

Ginkgos aren't native--but they are a prehistoric tree. Landscapers love them because of their shape, and their beautiful fall color show. In the industry they kill all the females. They don't really want the trees to fruit. If they mate, the female tree drops a prodigious quantity of purplish pods that are the size of small plums. Which smell like vomit. It's a very messy tree.

We could smell the "splat" a block away.

After a year in the fridge, Arlo planted some forgotten ginkgo seeds at Little Pond Gardens. That's the farm that he and his pals run at our bend in the road in Moncure.

Five of his trees germinated and he kept them around the Little Pond Nursery for a year or so. Finally he and Soren got them in the ground. I got them mulched and caged to keep them safe from deer.

Here we go. Five ginkgos in the ground safe. Hoping for a mating pair. I might be dead and gone before any fruit happens--but someone may end up with ginkgo gold mine...

Arlo and Kristen--devoted Little Ponders--admiring the ginkgos...