Ginkgo biloba Chriss Dwarf

Ginkgo biloba 'Chris's Dwarf' is an original dwarf cultivar with dense foliage, much smaller, very undulating, with a shaggy and delicate appearance! It is a deciduous tree that is very resistant and hardy, with a compact ball-shaped habit, slightly flattened, reaching about one meter in height and very slow growth, making it particularly suitable for container gardening. Its thin, numerous and horizontal branches bear long petioles with fan-shaped leaves notched like a coin, light green turning bright golden yellow in autumn. Plant in sunny, normal to rich soil, well-drained, dry to moist.

Ginkgo biloba, also known as the forty-ecu tree or sometimes 'Maidenhair Tree' because of the shape of its leaves and the pattern of its veins resembling capillaries, is a very primitive tree from the Ginkgoaceae family, which is now practically extinct. This living fossil, which does not bear flowers, normally reaches up to 24 metres (78 feet 8 inches) in height, shows an upright habit in its youth and spreads out more with age, measuring up to 9 metres (29 feet 6 inches) in diameter. This majestic tree, native to China, has today (and probably for a long time) disappeared in its natural habitat, surviving only thanks to the admiration and respect it has inspired in the human species for many generations, which continues to plant and multiply it in its most beautiful parks.

Ginkgo biloba 'Chris's Dwarf' or 'Munchkin' is one of the rare horticultural varieties derived from Ginkgo biloba. It is distinguished by a globular to flattened habit with a dense, almost horizontal branch structure, bearing much smaller and undulating foliage than the species. When mature, the tree will not exceed 1.2 metres (3 feet 11 inches) in height and 1.5 metres (4 feet 11 inches) in width, and will only grow 10cm (3.9in) in height per year. Its flat, deciduous, semi-round, green leaves turn a golden yellow colour at the end of the season, less intense than in the species, and have the characteristic fan shape, measuring only 1 to 2.5cm (0.4 to 1in) wide! This beautiful tree has a spreading root system and grows rather slowly for the first 10-12 years of its life, and faster afterwards. All individuals of this variety are sterile and do not produce fruits.

Ginkgo 'Chris's Dwarf' can be planted in a pot on a terrace or as a standalone tree on a short grass meadow, where it will become the focal point of the garden. Its slow growth and reduced size also make it easy to grow as a bonsai. It can also be associated with Japanese maples, azaleas, and rhododendrons in a small urban garden...

Strangely, despite its deciduous leaves, Ginkgo biloba is a conifer from a botanical point of view. It is a very hardy bush. It is also very resistant. It was one of the few trees to survive the atomic bomb in Hiroshima in 1945!

It is the oldest tree species found on Earth, dating back 300 million years, surviving all the cataclysms that the Earth has experienced. This tree with a thousand ecus has been living for thousands of years in the Tianmushan Mountains in southeastern China. It was reintroduced to Europe in the 18th century. With exceptional longevity, Ginkgo is also a medicinal plant whose foliage is used to reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.