Gingko Leaves Drop All At Once

Ginkgo leaves beneath the trees, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 November 2024

In Pittsburgh this week the ginkgo trees (Ginkgo biloba) began to drop their leaves. I found a cheerful yellow carpet under gray skies on Wednesday.

Ginkgo leaves coat the ground; still more to come, Schenley Park, 6 Nov 2024 (photo by Kate St. John)

Other trees lose their leaves gradually or in the wind, but ginkgos can drop them all at once on a single day of calm weather. I tried to capture the “snowing” leaves in this 2017 video. Not very many.

video by Kate St. John in Nov 2017

@MyDailyNature does a better job of showing them fall including slow motion.

video embedded from MyDailyNature on YouTube

Get out soon to watch the ginkgos before the leaves are gone.

p.s. Did you know that gingkos are living fossils? Here’s more:

Native to East Asia, Ginkgo biloba is the last living species in the order Ginkgoales, which first appeared over 290 million years ago. Fossils very similar to the living species, belonging to the genus Ginkgo, extend back to the Middle Jurassic epoch approximately 170 million years ago. The tree was cultivated early in human history and remains commonly planted, and is widely regarded as a living fossil.

Wikipedia: Ginkgo bilboa account

One thought on “Gingko Leaves Drop All At Once

  1. What a lovely post, Kate. Thank you. I would love to walk through that beautiful yellow carpet. Wishes to you for a wonderful weekend, and thanks again, for teaching me something new.

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