A Bonsai Ginko Forest Is Born

November 11, 2021

Reflections, Day 34

don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”
― Carl Sandburg

This must be “Ginko Tree Week” in Rome, Georgia. There is a group of them on North 5th Avenue that becomes a topic of discussion and rampant photography. Every fall these trees turn a brilliant yellow. There are a lot of other ginko trees in town, and two of them are in Michelle’s back yard in front of the music room. The ginko biloba is probably the oldest species of tree on earth. The tree was here in and probably before the age of the dinosaurs.

Another ancient tree trait owned by the ginko is that there is a male and a female of the species. And the female makes seeds—lots of seeds—and the seeds fall on fallow ground and sprout into baby trees. Michelle said that in 2020 the female tree on the right in the photo produced a bumper crop of seeds. Michelle’s family worked together to capture the seeds on a tarp. They took a couple of wheelbarrow loads to a raised flower bed and spread them out. The entire bed turned into tiny ginko babies.

I admired the trees and I dug the story. The story wasn’t all I dug, though. I dug up a few plants. I love the shapes of these and I decided to make a bonsai ginko forest. Once the idea entered my head, I was on a mission.

When I got home, the container I needed for the ginko forest was in use. It was a home for a pretty nice dwarf boxwood which I moved to a different container.

I thought the ginko planting looked good and then made it a spot of honor on the “watch” table. I will probably move it into close proximity to the dogwood bonsai forest that I wrote about yesterday—the one named “siblings.” The ginko tree forest has six trees instead of 4. The trees are of different sizes.

—john schulz

Power to the patient