Almost one year ago, the SheKeeps team traveled down the Mississippi River for our visit to T & C Latané to talk with Kitty Latané, the tinsmith who created cookie cutters from tracings of my kids’ hands. We arrived just a bit early, and when Kitty walked into the shop, she had come from visiting the ginkgo tree just down the block and near the library. With camera in hand, she talked about the beauty of the tree and how it had dropped all its leaves at once while they were still green. She smiled when she said how glad she was to have arrived in time to photograph the carpet of leaves among the juniper below the tree’s empty branches and remarked that it was an interesting color study in green.
After interviewing Kitty, we walked down the block to see for ourselves the tree she described. Admittedly, it is a tree I might have simply walked past had Kitty not shared her affection for it and the interesting way it drops its leaves.
I didn’t forget our conversation, and this year I’ve kept my eyes open for ginkgo trees. I also discovered quite a lore about the trees; watching for the leaves to fall has become an event, inspiring “guess the date” contests.
Spectacular photos can be seen in “1400 Year Old Ginkgo Tree’s Annual Leaf Drop” on the Moss and Fog blog. In “The Great Ginkgo Leaf Dump is Here,” Robinson Meyer, writing for The Atlantic, shares, “The day is finally here. From the northern reaches of New England to the southernmost stretch of the Chesapeake Bay, one of autumn’s most famous performances will take place this weekend. On Friday or Saturday night, the first hard frost will likely sweep down the coast. Ginkgo trees—known for their fractured, twisted branches and broad, fan-shaped leaves—will react like a surprised burglar and drop all their leaves to the ground at the same time.”
“Will it be November 20th, 25th, 30th? Whenever it is, each tree will have its own Night of the Ginkgo. Few people will see this—most of us will be asleep—but in the morning the ground beneath the ginkgo will be carpeted with thousands of heavy, golden, fan-shaped leaves.”
—Oliver Sacks, “Night of the Ginkgo,” The New Yorker
Pulitzer Prize winner and Poet Laureate Howard Nemerov beautifully describes the wonder of the ginkgo tree in “The Consent,” read here by students from Washington University as they share the university’s own Ginkgo Walk on campus.
Because of Kitty’s inspiration, I’ve found a ginkgo tree in my neighborhood. Even though I know its early, I’m already watching it. I don’t want to miss its leaf drop. Do you have a ginkgo tree near you? Keep your eyes open and find one. See if you can guess when the leaves will drop.
Margie Grilley
How interesting! I never knew this about ginkgo trees but wish I had long before now. The City of Minneapolis (and many other places) replaced the big beautiful elm trees that arched over the boulevards with ginkgoes when Dutch elm disease struck, because of their hardiness. We had a sad little ginkgo in front of our south Minneapolis house and I never paid much attention to it. I guess I missed a cool event each fall!
Susan Clark
That makes at least two of us! I didn’t know anything about the gingko’s curious leaf dropping either! Now that I know to watch, I’ve kept an eye on our neighborhood ginkgo tree. I just checked about an hour ago and discovered all of its leaves are down! I must have just missed it.
Mary
Fun to read your story about the Ginkgo tree & its leaves. Just this weekend, while on a walk, we walked over a pile of Ginkgo leaves on the sidewalk and my husband commented about the Ginkgo leaves and their shape. I look forward to seeing more Ginkgo trees & leaves here in South Minneapolis!
Susan Clark
Glad to know you have Ginkgo trees near you! You’ll have to jot down the date the leaves came down and try and guess when they’ll fall next year.