Ginkgo biloba Horizontalis

The Ginkgo biloba 'Horizontalis', also known as the 'Forty Ecu Tree', is a small variety with a tabular habit. This deciduous tree has branches that spread horizontally and slightly droop, forming a wide and low canopy. It has distinctive fan-shaped deciduous foliage with notched margins, light green turning golden yellow in autumn. Hardy and adaptable, it thrives in full sun in normal to rich, well-drained, dry to moist soil. Its slow growth and compact size make it ideal for small spaces or to provide shade on a small terrace!

The Ginkgo biloba, also sometimes called 'Maidenhair Tree' due to the shape of its leaves and the pattern of its veins resembling capillaries, is a very primitive tree of the nearly extinct ginkgoales family. This living fossil, which does not bear flowers, typically reaches a height of up to 24m (78 ft 8 in) and has an upright habit in its youth, spreading with age and measuring up to 9m (29 ft 6 in) in diameter. This majestic tree, native to China, has now (and likely for a long time) disappeared from its natural habitat, surviving only through the admiration and respect it has inspired in human beings for many generations, who continue to plant and propagate it in their most beautiful parks.

Ginkgo biloba 'Horizontalis' is one of the few horticultural varieties derived from Ginkgo biloba. It is distinguished by its reduced tabular habit with strong branches that spread horizontally, with slightly drooping ends, forming a low and very wide canopy. When fully grown, the tree will not exceed 4m (13 ft 1 in) in height and 6m (19 ft 8 in) in spread; it will not measure more than 1.5m (4 ft 11 in) in height and 3m (9 ft 10 in) in spread at the age of 10 years. Its flat, deciduous, semi-rounded, green leaves turn a golden yellow at the end of the season, less intense than in the species, and have the characteristic fan shape, measuring from 4 to 10cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) in width. This beautiful tree has a spreading root system and grows quite slowly in the first 10-12 years of its life, and faster afterwards. All individuals of this variety are sterile and do not produce fruit.

Ginkgo 'Horizontalis' can be planted as a focal point on a short grass meadow, where it will become the centerpiece of the garden. It can also be combined with Persian Ironwood, which has flamboyant foliage in autumn, or with Japanese maples, oak-leaf hydrangea, or caramel tree. It is also a good tree for lining a urban garden or a rooftop terrace.

Interestingly, despite its deciduous leaves, Ginkgo biloba is a conifer from a botanical point of view. It is a very hardy bush. It is also highly resistant; it was one of the few trees to survive the Hiroshima bomb 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, known as the 'Tree of a Thousand Ecu', has been living for thousands of years in the Tianmushan Mountains in southeast China. It was reintroduced to Europe in the 18th century. With exceptional longevity, Ginkgo is also a medicinal plant, with its leaves used to reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.