,
Common Name: maidenhair tree
Type: Deciduous shrub
Family: Ginkgoaceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 4 to 5 feet
Spread: 4 to 5 feet
Bloom Time: April
Bloom Color:
Bloom Description:
Sun: Full sun
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flowers: Flowers not Showy
Leaves: Good Fall Color
Tolerates: Clay Soil, Air Pollution, Deer
Uses: Hedge
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture soil in full sun. Prefers moist, sandy, well-drained soils. Tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, including both alkaline and acidic soils and compacted soils. Also tolerant of saline conditions, air pollution and heat. Adapts well to most urban environments.
Noteworthy Characteristics
'Chi-Chi' (also known as 'Tschi-Tschi') is a dwarf, dense, mounded, slow-growing, multi-stemmed shrub form of the popular ginkgo tree. It typically grows to only 4-5' tall with a fan-shaped habit and over 10 years. Ginkgo biloba is a deciduous conifer (a true gymnosperm) that features distinctive, two-lobed, somewhat leathery, fan-shaped leaves with diverging (almost parallel) veins. Ginkgo is the only surviving member of a group of ancient plants believed to have inhabited the earth up to 150 million years ago. Ginkgos are dioecious (separate male and female trees). Female ginkgos are usually considered to be undesirable because they produce seeds encased in fleshy, fruit-like coverings which, at maturity in autumn, are messy and emit a noxious, foul odor upon falling to the ground and splitting open. As a result, nurseries today generally sell only male cultivars which are "fruitless". 'Chi-Chi' is a male clone. Its cultivar name translates as "breasts" in reference to unusual swellings (clusters of dormant buds) which appear on the bark of plants as they mature (usually after 10 years). Leaves turn a uniform golden yellow in autumn.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Garden Uses
Dense, rounded shrub for foundations, shrub borders, hedges. Also an effective and interesting bonsai plant.