Via site feedCopper wall sculpture from the Andy Brinkley Studio.
This forbidding fruit doesn’t tempt
What is that smell? Did someone step on a doggy land mine on their way inside? Did one of the kids get sick in the corner and not tell anyone? Did someone ... oh, wait, is it late October already?
Well then, that smell would be from the tree that looms over my back yard.
We have a ginkgo tree, a beautiful, gigantic ginkgo tree, complete with a swing hanging from one of her sturdy branches and shade garden underneath. And she is woman—smell her roar.
You see, the female ginkgoes are the ones that drop mounds of fruit this time of year. The fruit is small—a little smaller than a golf ball—and looks like a miniature apricot. Inside is a white nut that the squirrels go ga-ga for. Sound charming?
Peter Baniak, of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Read the rest on your own.
A sight to be gold
As fall foliage peaks, Ginkgo biloba trees stand out in magnificent shining glory, but only for a few days. You can recognize ginkgoes, or “maidenhair trees,” by their distinctive two-lobed fan-shaped leaves, which remain supple and flat after changing to a brilliant school-bus yellow—then, a few days later, fall almost all at once to cover the ground in gold.
Don’t let the brief period between when the leaves turn color and then fall fool you into thinking ginkgoes are short-lived: They are actually living fossils dating back to beyond the time of the dinosaurs.
Susan Smith-Durisek, of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Read the rest on your own.
Ginkgo fall
Nancy L. Krussel writes about that day in autumn when magic strikes:
The weather had been freezing at night, but the days were bright and sunny. I was sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye.
I glanced out the window and thought it was snowing. Then I realized it was the leaves of my ginkgo tree falling. I leaned over and peered out the window thinking that a bird or animal was up in the tree knocking the leaves off. But there were no birds or squirrels.
All of a sudden I realized that the tree was dropping its leaves - all at once - on its own. I jumped up and ran outside. It was a magnificent sight.
I stood there with my mouth open as I watched the leaves fall to the ground. It was a shower of gold. Beautiful little fans were gently flitting and floating to the ground. Some were twirling, and others fell slowly as though they were golden snowflakes.
Read the rest on your own.
The Gingko Trees That Don’t Bear Fruit
This is a sad story, but you can’t imagine anyone’s noses being ungrateful for a ginkgo tree without fruit:
There were two trees in the inner garden on the temple grounds-a male and a female. Long ago, a child climbed the trees to pick the fruit, but fell and was seriously injured. After the resident priest prayed that such a thing would never happen again, the trees stopped bearing fruit entirely from the next year.
Ginkgo Sundays: Tableware
There aren’t many ginkgo dish patterns available, but this one by Philippe Deshoulieres is my favorite.
Ginkgo Fridays: Ginko Leaf Tunic
Pattern available from Fiddlesticks Knitting.
Ginkgo Wednesdays: Photography
Image courtesy of €mily.
Ginkgo Leaves
Wood and copper box by Jeffrey Seaton and Katrina Seaton.
African bubinga wood box with a lid of cocobolo and a patinated copper repoussé ginkgo leaf panel, attached with 14K gold-plated bolts. Patina finish will vary. Box has suede on base and interior and is highly hand polished with oil and wax. Signed inside lid.
Ginkgo Sundays: House and Garden
Ginko Leaf pattern, from Burrows Studio.
Ginkgo Fridays: Paper
Hollander’s offers this and two other Thai silkscreened decorative papers with a ginkgo pattern.
Gingko Wednesdays: Photography
Ginkgo branches framing view of Auckland University Clock Tower, a neo-Gothic structure designed by R.A. Lippincott. Known as the “wedding cake,” the octagonal tower symbolizes the University.
Image courtesy of rob511. This is rob511’s second appearance on Ginkgo Dreams.
Arboreal Imprints
“Arboreal Imprints” is an installation featuring sandblasted prose and visual imagery in the library’s granite plaza, foyer and exterior benches. Using the tree as a metaphor for knowledge, the prose and artwork weave historic and native trees of Issaquah into the surface of six 7ft benches, the granite walkway and the library lobby entry floor.
Pam Beyette, artist.
Ginkgo Sundays: House and Garden
Ginkgo leaf antique copper wall sconce from Roycroft Shops.
Call for Submissions - Festival of the Trees #5
A reminder that submissions are now being accepted for the fifth Festival of the Trees, to be hosted by frizzyLogic.
Ginkgo Fridays: Jewelry
This cast bronze necklace with pearls is my favorite piece from the ginkgo collection at 16 Hands Gallery.
Ginkgo Wednesdays: Photography
Image courtesy of Tomack.
Ginkgo Sundays: House and Garden
Shelf brackets from The Slagworks.
Ginkgo Fridays: Eterna Silk embroidery kits
Eterna Silk offers four embroidery kit designs with a ginkgo leaf theme.
Ginkgo Wednesdays: Photography
Image courtesy of AngeLeefly.
Ginkgo Sundays: House and Garden
Garden stake candleholder, available from Fantasy Lane.