Ginkgo biloba Saratoga

Ginkgo biloba 'Saratoga', also known as the 'Saratoga' Forty Ecu Tree, is a beautiful American selection that stands out for the long and narrow shape of its leaves, which hang gracefully from the branches. This beautiful tree has a particularly slender, symmetrical, and dense habit, becoming pyramidal over time. It slowly reaches a height of 15m (49ft 2in). The green leaves turn a beautiful golden colour in autumn, but it never produces fruit. In winter, this marvelous conifer, the sole descendant of a species dating back to prehistoric times, having survived all catastrophes, reveals a perfect framework, covered with grey and fissured bark. Bring this legendary tree into your garden, if it is spacious enough to accommodate it, as it requires space to reach its full potential.

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

'Saratoga' is one of the few horticultural varieties derived from Ginkgo biloba, obtained in 1976 at the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation in California. It stands out for its particularly large, long, and pendulous leaves, deeply divided and light in appearance. It has a slender, balanced habit that widens over time to become a dense pyramid. In this cultivar, all individuals are male and therefore do not produce fruit. Smaller than the species, 'Saratoga' reaches a height of about 15m (49ft 2in) and a spread of 8m (26ft 2in) at maturity. Its flat, deciduous leaves, in a narrow fan shape, are green and turn a deep golden yellow at the end of the season, measuring from 4 to 10cm (1.6 to 3.9in) in length. This beautiful tree has a spreading root system and develops quite slowly during the first 10-12 years of its life, and then faster.

A magnificent specimen to display in a large garden, the 'Saratoga' Forty Ecu Tree does not need companions, as it would overshadow them figuratively as well as literally. A Japanese maple with red foliage, such as Acer palmatum, could be planted alongside it, as the contrast between the forms and colours of the foliage could create a small spectacle in the garden at the end of the season. Perhaps a Japanese pagoda tree for its giant bonsai-like appearance.

Did you know: strangely, despite its deciduous leaves, Ginkgo biloba is a conifer from a botanical standpoint. It is a very hardy shrub. 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 with a thousand leaves has been living for thousands of years in the Tianmushan Mountains in southeastern China. It was reintroduced to Europe in the 18th century. Exceptionally long-lived, Ginkgo is also a medicinal plant, with its foliage used to reduce symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.