Ginkgo Buds

Ginkgo trees are often included in ornamental plantings; the male trees are appreciated more than the female tress because the fruit smells like rancid butter or vomit. The trees I’ve photographed so far have been male trees. I started about a week ago with a tree at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. The buds were just opening and the leaves were spiraled into themselves.

The male cones were tightly clustered around the leaves.

The next day I photographed the ginkgo buds on the tree near the conservatory at Brookside Gardens. The stems of the leaves had elongated a bit making the leave poke above the rest of male cones.

I took pictures that showed the whole bud since they are quite different than other trees.

The buds are so long that they look like short branches.

The tree begins to look tufted with the new growth.

Yesterday, I was at Belmont again and took pictures of the ginkgo again. The leaves have grown significantly; they are large enough to identify the tree as a ginkgo – even though the buds give it way earlier.

The male cones are now at right angles to the bud

Or drooping down over the bud.

The tree is full of greentuffs: male cones and leaves.

I learned that there is a female tree somewhere at Belmont since there was a problem last year with stinky fruit. I’ll look for it next time I go to Belmont.