Botanical name: Ginkgo biloba

Botanical name: Ginkgo biloba
Attributes: A remarkable large shade tree unlike any other, best known for its unique leaves and splendid yellow fall color. Young trees usually have a strong conical form, but trees become rounded with age. Ancient trees produce stalactite-like growths (called "tschi-tschi") around their trunks. Trees have no pests or diseases, and their leaves are found in 200-million-year-old fossils.
Bloom color: Yellow-green (insignificant).
Bloom time: Spring.
Culture: Plant only male trees because female trees produce pale amber, plumlike fruit that drops in autumn and smells unpleasant. Ginkgo is very hardy and can be planted any time the soil is workable from spring through fall (spring is best in cold zone 4). They are very drought tolerant, and only newly planted trees need regular watering. They are very tolerant of soils as long as they are well-drained.
Landscaping tips: Ginkgos make excellent street and lawn trees, provided you plant a male cultivar. They can easily live a millennia but grow slowly to reach shade-tree size. Trees make great conversation pieces for their unique history: The tree is not certainly known in the wild and was found only in Oriental gardens and temple grounds. A wide variety of shade-loving plants grow well beneath ginkgo trees, including spring bulbs and wildflowers, ferns, hostas, azaleas, Japanese maples and flowering dogwoods.
Cost: Available in 7 gallon containers for about $100; larger, balled and burlapped, field-dug trees usually cost $200 and up.
Source: Powell Gardens (www.powellgardens.org)