Ridge Road Nursery & Landscaping || Musings<title> <meta name="generator" content="BBEdit 8.7" /> </head> <body> <div class='boxhead'><h2> </h2></div> <div id='box'> <div id='header'> <a href='index.php'><img src='rrimages/logo.png' alt='Ridge Road Nursery' /></a> <div id='nav'> <ul><h5> <li><a href='index.php'>Home</a></li>| | <li><a href='plants.php'>Plant Lists</a></li>| | <li><a href='landscape.php'>Landscape Design</a></li>| | <li><a href='natives.php'>Native Plants</a></li>| | <li><a href='rrabout.php'>About</a></li>| | <li><a href='musings.php'>Musings</a></li>| | <li><a href='contact1.php'>Contact</a></li> </h5></ul> </div></div><br /><br /> <br /><br /> <div id='content'> <div id='top-box'> <h1>Ridge Road Stories</h1> <p>"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." - John Muir</p> </div> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <br /><br /> <img class="main-pic" src="rrimages/resources.jpg" /> <h3>The Dinosaur Tree</h3> <p>The tree is the Ginkgo biloba, called the LIVING FOSSIL because it has been on earth for over 250 million years. It was lunch for the dinosaurs. </p> <p>Common in North America millions of years ago, it was thought to be extinct until 1691 when small remnants of the original forests were found in remote parts of eastern China. It is now everywhere again in North America in Arboretums, Botanical Gardens, and private gardens In fact, there are now Ginkgo farm factories in the Carolinas and elsewhere, growing Ginkgos for the health food stores everywhere Various Ginkgo leaf extracts are promoted by the health stores for increasing blood flow in the brain to help memory and brain function. I remember roasted Ginkgo seed sold by vendors on the street corners in Beijing China as a delicacy in the nineteen-eighties. </p> <p>It is unique as a single Genus, and a single species. No sisters or brothers, no cousins or aunts and uncles in the plant families. Ginkgos can live to over a thousand years and can grow to 140 feet in height in favorite sites in China and Japan, and Korea. In this country, it is between 40 and 80' depending on climate. It is the oldest known seed plant. A possible reason for the decline of the ginkgo in the wild in eastern China in that it takes 20 to 50 years for the female to produce seed, in contrast to its competitors.</p> <p>To live millions of years means a fantastic immune system. The Ginkgo has survived the bacteria, fungus, molds, blights, etc that kill lilacs, crabapples, oak, maples, and hundreds of other trees and shrubs.</p> <p>Everyone should have a Ginkgo. The brilliant yellow color of the leaves in the fall and the way the leaves fall like rain is reason enough to plant one. | <a href="musings.php">Back to Musings</a></p> <div id='copyright'> <p>©2004 | ridge road nursery & landscaping | bellevue, iowa</p> </div></div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-6519503-3']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </body> </html>