Tree · Ginkgoaceae
Ginkgo
Ginkgo biloba
Slow, tough, and all but indestructible, the ginkgo is a tree that rewards planting for the long haul.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 3–8
50–80 ft · 15.2–24.4 m
Overview
Few trees earn a spot in the yard the way the ginkgo does. It is a living fossil, the last survivor of a plant line running back more than 200 million years, and it looks like nothing else you can plant, with fan-shaped leaves and a form all its own. It powers through drought, heat, pollution, road salt, and pests that grind down most shade trees, and that toughness plus a long life is why it keeps lining city streets.
It grows slowly and lives for ages, so it hands you a payoff that builds year after year. Give it time and a young tree climbs to 50 to 80 feet (15.2 to 24.4 m) tall with a wide, open crown, which means you give it room and then mostly let it run. The real treat lands each autumn, when the whole canopy blazes a clear, bright gold and then lets go, often within a day or two.
One detail drives everything about growing a ginkgo: it is dioecious, so each tree comes up either male or female. A female drops a fleshy, foul-smelling fruit in fall, while the fruitless male cultivars stay clean. Nearly every tree sold for landscaping is a grafted male for exactly that reason, which keeps the whole thing easy.
Care
The short version: plant it in full sun and well-drained soil, keep it watered for the first few years until it settles in, and once it is established it pretty much runs itself.
Light
Plant a ginkgo in full sun and it grows its fullest and fires up the best fall color. It handles partial shade too, but the crown opens and thins the less light it gets.
Water
Keep a young tree steadily watered for its first few years while the roots dig in, letting the top half of the soil dry between drinks. Once it settles in, the ginkgo turns genuinely drought-tolerant and only wants extra water through a long dry spell.
Soil
It shrugs off soil worries and grows in loam, sand, or clay as long as the ground drains. A pH anywhere from 5.0 to 8.0 works for it, which covers most yards with zero amendment.
Temperature
This cold-hardy, heat-tough tree powers through anything from -40°F to 100°F (-40°C to 38°C). That wild range is why it thrives from northern zones straight down to hot southern streets.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor air is all it wants, so there is nothing to fuss with here. Average humidity suits it fine in any climate where it is hardy.
Feeding
Feed a young tree a balanced slow-release tree fertilizer in spring to drive strong early growth. An established ginkgo barely needs feeding and coasts on what the soil provides.
Pruning
Prune a young tree in late winter to build one strong central leader and a clean branch structure. A mature ginkgo needs next to nothing, so once the frame is set you can leave the saw hanging.
Repotting
A ginkgo is a landscape tree and gets rarely repotted, but a young one stuck in a container tips you off when it has outgrown its pot. Watch for roots circling the pot or shooting out the drainage holes, water blasting straight through, and new growth stalling.
Size & spacing
Plan for a big tree that shoots to 50 to 80 feet (15.2 to 24.4 m) tall and spreads 30 to 40 feet (9 to 12 m) wide. Give it that much open room away from buildings, walks, and power lines so the broad crown can really fill out.
When to plant
The ginkgo is hardy from zone 3 to zone 8 and drops into the ground in spring or fall, when the weather runs mild and the roots settle before the next stress hits. It grows slowly, so the early years turn on steady watering rather than fast results, and the golden autumn show is the reward that keeps coming back.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: spring or fall
- Harvest: April (inconspicuous; dioecious)
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 3–8
Temperature: down to -40°C
Troubleshooting
A ginkgo hands you very little trouble, which is a big part of the fun of growing one. The few issues that pop up tie back to a young tree settling in or to the mess and irritation from a female tree's fruit. Match what you are seeing below, then jump on it while it still helps.
Scorched leaf rims and branches fading back
On a young tree still digging in, this usually points to plain heat or drought stress, an even browning right around the leaf edges during a hot, dry run. Keep an eye out for the tougher one, bacterial leaf scorch, which pushes through the canopy section by section over several seasons. Soak a stressed sapling deeply and lay down mulch, but pull any tree confirmed with the bacterial form.
Fix:
- Water deeply during drought, especially for newly planted trees
- Mulch to conserve soil moisture
- Remove severely declining trees if bacterial scorch is confirmed
Itchy welts and blisters after gripping the crushed pulp
That rash traces back to the ginkgolic acids packed into a female tree's fruit pulp, urushiol-like compounds that hit skin just like poison ivy. Scrub the area well with soap and water, then treat it exactly as you would a poison-ivy reaction. Gloves stop it cold, and a male cultivar keeps fruit out of the picture for good.
Fix:
- Wash the affected skin thoroughly with soap and water
- Treat dermatitis symptomatically as for poison ivy
A reeking, slick carpet of fallen fruit come autumn
That autumn stink comes straight from a female ginkgo shedding its fleshy seed coats, which pack butyric acid and smell like rancid butter. Rake the fruit up fast before it gets tracked around, and grab a pair of gloves so the pulp cannot irritate your skin. Better yet, sidestep the whole thing from day one by planting a fruitless male cultivar.
Fix:
- Rake and remove fallen fruit promptly
- Wear gloves when handling crushed fruit to avoid skin irritation
Toxicity
The ginkgo is a low-toxicity tree, and its fan-shaped leaves pose little risk to pets, livestock, or people. The caution sits with the female tree's fruit and raw seeds: the fleshy pulp can raise a poison-ivy-like rash on bare skin, and raw or large amounts of the inner seed carry ginkgotoxin. Most landscape trees are fruitless males, but where a female drops fruit, keep pets and curious children away from the litter.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds · People
Cats Caution
The leaves run so low in toxicity that a curious nibble means nothing for a cat. Keep the focus on a female tree's fallen fruit and raw seeds, which can upset the stomach, so steer a cat clear of any litter piling up under the tree.
Dogs Caution
A dog nosing through the leaves will almost certainly be fine. Watch instead for one chomping the dropped fleshy fruit or raw seeds, which can spark drooling and stomach trouble, and a big mouthful is the part that really counts.
Horses Caution
The foliage carries little risk for a horse. The move to make is fencing them off the windfall seeds and crushed fruit, since the raw seed packs ginkgotoxin.
Rabbits Caution
A leaf or two runs no risk for a rabbit, given how low the foliage sits in toxins. Just block one from the raw seeds, because a small animal handles ginkgotoxin badly.
Livestock Caution
Cattle, goats, and sheep can browse the leaves at little risk. The one thing to fence off is the autumn drop of fleshy fruit and raw seeds beneath a female tree.
Birds Caution
Birds scatter and spread the fallen seeds while the foliage stays harmless to them. Even so, the raw inner seed packs ginkgotoxin, so skip setting it out for backyard poultry.
People Caution
The leaves and leaf extracts run low in toxicity, but two things deserve care. Handling the female fruit's pulp can spark a poison-ivy-like rash, and eating raw or large amounts of the inner seed can cause ginkgotoxin poisoning, so cooked seeds stay to small servings.
Only FEMALE trees produce fleshy seed coats; the fruit pulp contains ginkgolic acids (urushiol-like) that can cause poison-ivy-like contact dermatitis in people handling the crushed fruit, and RAW seeds/nuts contain ginkgotoxin (4'-O-methylpyridoxine) which can cause toxicity such as seizures if many are eaten raw. Plant fruitless male cultivars.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
Nearly every ginkgo worth planting in a yard or along a street is a fruitless male cultivar, picked to skip the messy fall fruit. These are the ones you will run into most.
Autumn Gold
A fruitless male that throws a broad, even crown and lights up bright gold in fall, climbing to about 50 feet (15 m) tall and 30 feet (9 m) wide.
Princeton Sentry
A fruitless male whose narrow, upright, conical shape slots right into a tight spot or a street-side planting.
Magyar
A fruitless male sporting a tidy columnar-to-pyramidal form that makes it a sharp pick for a street tree.
How to propagate
Ginkgos get propagated to lock in a known male, fruitless tree, so growers reach for grafting and cuttings rather than seed.
GraftingDemanding
Late winter to spring (dormant scion onto seedling understock) · 1-2 years
Grafting is how growers crank out the fruitless male cultivars. A dormant scion gets worked onto seedling rootstock in late winter or spring, which holds the cultivar true and locks in a male tree, and the union knits together over a year or two. It takes a precise, practiced hand, so it lands at the demanding end of propagation.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Midsummer (semi-hardwood) · 1-2 years
Snip semi-hardwood cuttings of 10 to 15 cm off a mature male tree in midsummer, dip them in IBA rooting hormone, and set them under mist. They root across a year or two and then grow slowly, but they carry the parent's known sex, which is the whole reason to run this route.
SeedDemanding
Fall, after cleaning and stratifying seed · Several years
You can clean and stratify seed in fall and sow it, though the seedlings crawl along and take several years to settle in. The real catch is sex: a ginkgo keeps you guessing whether it is male or female for 15 to 20 years or more, so seed makes a rough road when you want a guaranteed fruitless male.
Myths
Ginkgos are toxic and downright hazardous to grow around pets.
That one falls apart quickly. The ginkgo does not appear on the ASPCA toxic-plant lists, and the fruitless male trees sold for landscaping count as non-toxic to cats and dogs. The concern stays narrow: it is the female tree's fallen fruit and raw seeds you keep pets away from, never the leaves or wood.
All ginkgos dump a reeking pile of rot every fall.
Only the female tree grows the fleshy seed coats that reek of butyric acid as they rot on the ground. The male cultivars sold for landscaping come fruitless and odor-free, which is exactly why they run the trade.